In a shock move, Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ordered all Public Servants back to their offices even though COVID-19 infections continue to surge in the country.
In a statement, President Rajapaksa justified the decision on the grounds that most Government staff had completed their vaccinations against the virus.
Public opinion is divided over the decision, some Public Servants supported the move with one, Anton Perera saying it was right and timely since most of the population had been vaccinated.
“It is now the responsibility of people to comply with health rules to protect themselves,” Mr Perera said.
“Continuing with the lockdown would be difficult because it would create many more problems,” he said.
However, many of his colleagues say the opposite is true, they point out that contrary to what the Government said about vaccination rates, many Government workers had not received the vaccine.
“The opening of public offices, combined with the lack of vaccination coverage, will increase the number of infections,” one officer, who did not wish to be named, said.
Currently, the rate of virus infections is running at more than 2,000 each day.
Since the beginning of July, the number of cases has doubled with the surge in infections due to the spread of the Delta variant.
Since the beginning of the pandemic Sri Lanka has had more than 306,000 people infected, 70,000 of them in the Colombo district where most Government offices are located.
In one day at the beginning of August 56 people died, bringing the total of deaths to 4,380.
Colombo, 2 August 2021
