Two Hundred & Four prison inmates in Quarantine

A total of 204 persons who had close contact with the Welikada prison inmate who tested positive for COVID-19 have been sent to the Punani Quarantine Centre. Of these, 186 are from the Welikada Prison, 11 from the Polonnaruwa  Prison  and 7 from the Pallekele Prison according to a press statement issued by the Presidential Task Force  on COVID-19. Meanwhile, speaking to Counterpoint Chandana Ekanayake, Commissioner(Administration), Prisons Departments stated that a total of  316 inmates had undergone the PCR test and 210 had  tested negative. “We are waiting for the rest of the tests to come through,” Ekanayake said. The inmate had tested positive yesterday, July 7^th, and the Ministry of Health along with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 is investigating as to how he had contracted the virus.  The inmate had been at the Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Kandakadu and had been transferred to Welikada at the end of June, to attend Court. The Prisons Department also announced today, July 8,  that it has temporarily suspended visits to all prisons.