Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has urged the President to summon all party leaders, the Speaker and Prime Minister to discuss and reach a consensus on the present situation in the country.
He said that WHO has predicted that the death toll in Sri Lanka could reach an alarming rate of 30,000 before the end of this year. Therefore it is imperative to contain the spread of Covid 19 with some drastic action.
“The burden on the Health care sector is enormous, and it is likely to collapse with the increasing number of patients. He said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) have stated that 12,000 deaths could have been prevented if timely action taken by the Sri Lankan government in May. If we act now, we can save at least 18,000 lives.
The United National Party has presented a series of proposals to save the country from a major catastrophe and urged the Speaker to summon Parliament to discuss issues on the matter but, it is not the time to summon Parliament since many Parliamentarians are infected, with Covid 19
However, I urge the President to summon party leaders along with the Speaker and the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Health.
“I urge you to let us know what steps the government will take to control COVID-19. There, we can present our ideas and discuss”.
The other parties also have similar ideas and we could commit ourselves to a programme to reduce the number of deaths. The former Prime Minister said.
JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake addressing a press conference urged the people to be more cautious and to exercise self-restraint to keep the infection at Bay.’If the government fails to meaningful steps, I urge the people to take all possible steps to protect them from the deadly virus he added.
