Ravi Kumardesh, co-convener of the government, semi-government and Private Sector Trade Unions, said that if the government does not lock down the country according to a scientific methodology by next Friday in the face of the Covid situation, all the trade unions in the public and private sector will jointly take action to close the country by next Monday.
Addressing a media briefing he said that the process of locking down this country will be carried out scientifically and that the government should support its trade unions to maintain it at least after that.
He emphasized that “All trade unions are ready for a joint lockdown if the government does not lock down the country, without waiting to expose half-immunized people to an unnecessary exposure and creating a Sri Lankan covid cluster.”
At the same time, they said, they are forcing the government to meet the following requirements in the country to make the lockdown a success through this “lockdown strike action”.
- Perform a 10-day scientific lockdown.
- Perform at least 100,000 Covid tests, including PCR, Rapid PCR, and rapid antigen tests during that time.
- Separate the infected.
- Plan home treatment for common symptoms.
- Prepare intermediate center with 100,000 beds for those who are symptomatic and in need of intermediate treatment.
- Reserve 10,000 beds for essential treatment.
- Plan to accurately predict the disease through scientific observation.
- Avoid bringing in tourists during that time.
- Be mindful of the covid variants of immigrants from all over the world.
- Identify green, orange and red zones according to the number of patients found in the country and improve the status by protecting the green-orange zones.
- Fulfill the responsibility of the government towards the needs of the people during the lockdown.
