A total of 4,836 individuals within the limits of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) area have been diagnosed with COVID-19, says the Mayoress of Colombo Rosy Senanayake.

Holding a press conference today (19), the Mayoress said that nearly 70 percent of the CMC area are currently under lockdown.

Stating that there are several non-isolated areas located between the areas under lockdown, she pointed out that people tend to move among these areas due to this reason.

“Mattakkuliya and Modara have been isolated, but Mahawatta, Aluth Mawatha, and Lunupokuna have not been isolated. There are a few areas that are not under lockdown in the middle of the areas of isolation. People move back and forth when you isolate the surrounding areas and leave the middle area open.

Because of this some who are under self-quarantine at Kalipullawatta area in Dematagoda still go to work in the morning. That is because there are gaps.”

Senanayake said that it will be easier for them and the central government to control the spread of the virus if the remaining areas, too, are placed under lockdown.

“I’m not talking about the Colombo District, just the Colombo Municipal Council limits. Most probably only Colombo-North, Colombo-Central, and Borella would be under lockdown.

If we properly lockdown these areas for 2 weeks, we will be able to reopen all areas by the first week of December.”

She further said: “We should come out of this situation together, instead of criticizing each other and laying the whole responsibility of this on the government and the health sector.

Because we are playing with human lives here. We should not be doing politics here. I do not like to see the government fail due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also want to see the government come out of this successfully.”