President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has directed the authorities not to allow any individual to move in and out of isolated areas.

He further gave instructions to take necessary measures to restrict people in Western Province travelling to other provinces.

The directives came during the daily meeting of the Task Force in Covid-9 prevention held at the Presidential Secretariat earlier today (11), the President’s Media Division (PMD) said in a statement.

The President has stressed that special attention should be paid to protecting patients with Non-Communicable Diseases from Covid-19 infection.

According to medical officers, 93 per cent of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus were the result of patients suffering from Non-Communicable Diseases contracting the virus, the President pointed out.

Reports have revealed that patients with heart diseases, diabetes, kidney ailments and cancer are more susceptible to Covid-19 infection and fall victim to the virus without showing any symptoms. They are posthumously found to have contracted the virus, the release read further.

The President accordingly instructed the officials to conduct make the general public aware of the situation without delay.

The focus of today’s meeting also fell on the current Covid-19 situation in the country and curbing the spread of infection and the measures required to initiate in order to ensure the wellness of the members of the public.

President Rajapaksa also emphasized the need to bringing back dispensaries into operation as soon as possible as in order to address the difficulties the public is confronted with when visiting main hospitals.

He also pointed out that required medical, nursing, midwifery and other staff should be attached to these dispensaries expeditiously.

In addition, the President noted the importance of monitoring whether delivery services operating in isolated areas are properly following the health guidelines.

The meeting also focused on preventing the spread of Covid-19 virus within prison premises and the measures taken in this regard.