President of the Sri Lanka Association of Government Medical Laboratory Technologists Ravi Kumudesh stated that testing for coronavirus needs to be updated as new strains of the virus have emerged which cannot be recognized through current coronavirus tests.

Speaking to Hiru News, the President of the Association stated that Sri Lanka does not possess adequate facilities to test new strains of the coronavirus.

In the past 24 hours, 349 COVID cases were identified from the country, where the highest number of cases which was 229 was reported from the Gampaha District.

Another 19 patients were identified from the Colombo District, while nine cases were reported from the Kalutara District.

Accordingly, the total number of cases in the country stands at 89,846, while the recoveries stand at 86,466 with another 2,836 patients still receiving treatment.

The death toll stands at 544 with the one COVID death reported yesterday (20).

Meanwhile, a total number of 829,220 persons were given the vaccination against the COVID-19 virus from 29 January, with 4,697 persons being vaccinated yesterday (20).