The focus of attention in the country remains firmly on the Coronavirus pandemic as concerns grow about the recent spike in the number of infections recorded in Sri Lanka which have now totalled above 600.
At the time of writing, a total of 619 cases have been detected. This was the result of a spate of infections being detected last week. In comparison, at this time last week only 310 cases were recorded, indicating that the number has doubled in that period.
It is also noted that the first 100 cases were detected in 57 days, the second 100 cases in 19 days and the third 100 cases in eight days. The next increments of 100 cases were recorded in four days, two days and two days respectively.
The number of districts where the virus has been detected has also increased now with twenty-one districts being affected. Colombo, Kalutara, Gampaha and Puttalam maintain the dubious distinction of being the regions with the most number of cases. The Colombo district has recorded 263 of the 610 cases detected so far, with 108 of them being at the Welisara Navy camp.
There are several reasons for this sudden spike. One is the detection of clusters of infections among Armed Forces personnel such as the one recorded at the Welisara Navy camp. This is unfortunate as these personnel were at the forefront of operations during the curfew period and would have contracted the illness during the conduct of their routine duties.
The other reason for the sudden rise in cases is the increase in the number of tests carried out to ascertain whether individuals have contracted the Covid-19 infection. The rate of testing was ramped up over the course of the past week and nearly 18,000 tests have been carried out so far. However, for a population of over 21 million, the rate of testing remains very low by global standards.
The critical question that concerns health authorities is whether the country is inching towards full blown community transmission. At this stage, transmission is still said to be confined to known clusters. However, if the number of infected persons continues to spiral out of control, community transmission would be inevitable, health experts fear.
One redeeming feature thus far has been the fact that the number of fatalities as a result of the infection has remained low at seven. Again, if the total number of infections continues to increase, it will only be a matter of time before more deaths are recorded.
Faced with these grim statistics, the Government has been called upon to walk a tight rope, balancing the need to safeguard the health of the nation while at the same time ensuring that economic activity resumes as soon as possible. This is because daily wage earners- who form a significant proportion of the work force- are without earnings since the clamp down of the curfew in a bid to arrest the spread of the pandemic.
In an effort to normalise daily life and commercial activity, the Government this week lifted the weeks long curfew imposed on all district except in the most vulnerable districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam. It also announced that the curfew in these four districts would be lifted next Monday.
The Government also issued guidelines on how institutions should function when the curfew is relaxed. “All the State Departments, corporations, statuary boards and private sector industries, working places, fish, vegetables and retail stores can also be operated under strict regulations. Only one-third of the total workforce of the State organizations should report to work. All the employees of the State sector who are not required to report for work should work from home,” it said.
Also in operation is a scheme where individuals with a particular last digit of their national identity card are allowed to go out during a specific day of the week. This scheme has been devised to minimise the rush of persons venturing out when the curfew has been relaxed for brief periods previously.
While dealing with these everyday measures, the Government also has to contend with the political fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Its plans to hold the General Election on April 25 did not eventuate and the election has now been fixed by the Elections Commission for June 20.
However, Chairman of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya was to inform political parties shortly after announcing the new date that this too would be reviewed, subject to the ground situation in respect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
All eyes will again be on Chairman Deshapriya and other Elections Commission members Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole and Nalin Abeysekera. It has previously been announced that allocation of preference numbers for candidates will take place on May 4 but this was to happen only if the poll was to be held on June 20.
It is highly likely that this date too will need to be reviewed because the rising numbers of infection means that public life is not likely to normalise soon- and it is difficult to conduct a free and fair election where all candidates have the freedom to campaign, when restrictions are still in place.
Meanwhile, Opposition parties this week wrote to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, urging him to reconvene [the old] Parliament as a way out of what could eventually become a Constitutional crisis, if the election cannot be held within a reasonable period of time.
“The President has also refrained from exercising the discretion to summon Parliament under Article 70 (7) of the Constitution. In view of the necessity to repeatedly postpone the Election, there is now a risk that Parliament would remain inactive for much longer. It is our genuine belief that re-summoning the dissolved Parliament and through it securing the cooperation of political parties and MPs represented in the dissolved Parliament would greatly contribute to resolving a number of urgent governance issues that have emerged amidst the crisis,” the opposition parties said.
The letter, signed by Ranil Wickremesinghe, R. Sampanthan, Sajith Premadasa, Rauff Hakeem, Mano Ganeshan, Champika Ranawaka and Rishad Bathiudeen also pledged not to undermine the Government in any manner, if Parliament was to be re-summoned.
“We are prepared to lend our support to the Government in Parliament to achieve the above so that the Governance of the country can proceed properly and lawfully, in compliance with the Constitution. We assure the people of our country that we will not draw salaries nor attempt to defeat the Government nor thwart any of the legitimate actions of the Government during this period,” it said.
The government has not formally responded to this plea from the Opposition. However, indications are that it will not deviate from the position stated by President Rajapaksa during a televised interview with his advisor, Lalith Weeratunga, where he maintained that he does not believe he is legally empowered to re-summon the dissolved Parliament.
There are reports that the Opposition may canvass the Supreme Court if Parliament is not summoned by June 2, the three month deadline set by the Constitution in the wake of its dissolution on March 2. The opposition would argue that, in the absence of a new Parliament by that date, the gazette dissolving Parliament would be null and void.
However, with the Elections Commission now announcing a date for the election- regardless of how feasible that would be- this argument would be countered by the fact that it is not the Government that is denying a new Parliament being elected but rather, extraordinary circumstances beyond the Government’s control.
While many will welcome the fact that politics and campaigning for elections have been forced off the headlines during the Covid-19 pandemic, the discerning public will still be evaluating how the Government and the Opposition respond to this health crisis. This will have an impact on voters when the elections are eventually held.
Initially at least, the Government earned the kudos of even its critics in the manner in which it managed the pandemic. The use of strict disciplinary measures to ensure the ‘lockdown’ was enforced and the deployment of Armed Forces was thought to be a key in its successful strategy to curb the spread of the pandemic during the month of March. These restrictions were continued even during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year period when festivities usually abound in the country.Late April has however thrown new challenges particularly in the last ten days, when the number of infections rose sharply. This has led to some criticism of the Government and calls to postpone the General Election which however is the task of the Elections Commission.
The government wouldn’t certainly wish to undo the tremendous goodwill it earned in the past weeks by containing a pandemic that ravaged much more advanced nations. By the same token, the Opposition wouldn’t also wish to be seen as attempting to take political advantage of what is essentially a national crisis beyond narrow political affiliations.
Therefore, both the Government and the Opposition would do well to navigate the coming few weeks carefully because, come election time, the Sri Lankan voter is likely to remember and reward or reprimand accordingly.
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