The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) today (01) made another request from the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to launch a power outage but the Commission denied the request, revealed Janaka Rathnayake, Chairman of the PUCSL, speaking to a briefing today.
The PUCSL’s decision on denying further requests for power outages comes in upon its conclusion that a power outage will not be necessary to solve the ongoing crisis.
The CEB has been informed that the temporary maintenance at the Norochcholai Power Plant, which is not due to any breakdown, will restore the power generation and have it added to the national grid by midnight, the PUCSL noted.
There is no need for any power outage to solve the issue today given that the Sojist Power Plant will be added to the national grid from February 03 and that the fuel required for the Bach Mountain Power Plant will also be released by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), the PUCSL added.
With 32 more Covid related deaths confirmed by the Director General of Health Services yesterday (31) the death toll due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka has climbed up to 15,473.
The daily death toll due to the infection remained at a limit of 20 over the last weeks, but the recent surge indicates a growing risk of the pandemic.
The Exit Strategy against Covid-19 introduced by the Director General of Health Services on January 27 has been formulated without any scientific basis, alleged the Academy of Health Professionals.
Issuing a statement, Union Chairman Ravi Kumudesh pointed out that the period of ten days previously recommended for the release of a person infected with Covid has been slashed to seven days, warning that this could be exposing those who are capable of transmitting the infection to the community, which could be a serious obstacle to controlling the pandemic.
“This guideline makes it mandatory for health staff to report to work within seven days and this could be leading to a serious transmission of the infection among health workers, risking the functioning of future services, as well as to a drastic reduction in the affordability level of the health service,” Kumudesh said.
He went on: “If the number of days needs to be determined more scientifically, we urge the Health Ministry to allow the testing and reporting of two infected samples that have completed ten days and seven days.”
The third power generator at the Norochcholai Power Plant, which was recently repaired and added to the national grid from yesterday, has been shut down again this afternoon (01) due to a technical fault, losing about 270 megawatts and leading to power outages in several parts of the island.
Commenting on the matter, Janaka Rathnayake, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) stated that there will be no need for a power cut due to the technical fault at the Plant.
What is the definition for a Banana Republic? A term used to describe countries plagued with a variety of problems, including a tyrannical or otherwise problematic government or government officials.Sri Lanka sadly is becoming a Banana Republic because it has a society which is divided into poor daily pay working class and a ruling-class – a new rich plutocracy . The country is struggling to find money to import oil . But all those elected representatives have motorcades where ever they go, some in Range Rovers , and they waste jet fuel for lavish independence day celebrations practices. This is at a time when the country is at its worst and faces a massive fuel Forex and power crisis . We are now begging for US Dollars from Bangladesh and Pakistan. For example Independence Avenue was newly carpeted overnight for Independence Day . What an utter waste of public funds. When several Roads in the heart of the city needs carpeting. Inflation is running at 14% and food inflation is at 25% .
The common Man finds it hard to even to get gas. Meanwhile the roads are blocked for independence day celebrations. Lights are switched on unnecessarily. So much was expected of President Gotabaya. Why is he allowing this madness? The country’s debts are partially due to the grandiose plans of Mahinda Rajapakse. The Mattale Airport, Hambantota Port , the communication tower. We could have easily done with out them. Why blame the leaders anyway? We elected them. So we deserve the government we get . So let us tighten our belts and happily watch whilst they party with public funds. Sadly, Sri Lanka has an ineffective opposition that cannot inspire any change .
Other than the JVPs Anura Kumara Dissanayake asking the public to vote for them in 2024, essentially to bring back the assets looted, which rightfully they say belong to the people of Sri Lanka and must be distributed among all citizens . A promised made by the previous government of Sirisena and Wickramasinghe, now happily in opposition. So at the end of the day when the cows come home to rest, it is only the people who can actually save themselves and their families from this unprecedented crisis. All we can say is – Happy Independence Day to all!
Ponnampalam Jothibala, who came to the UK in 1983, granted indefinite leave to remain by Home Office
A man who came to the UK to train as an accountant almost 40 years ago and was left homeless after a catalogue of Home Office delays has finally been granted leave to remain months before his 70th birthday.
Ponnampalam Jothibala, 69, a Sri Lankan Tamil, said he was overjoyed his case had finally been resolved, even though he was now “an old man”.
When interviewed by the Guardian last year, Jothibala said he had not been able to leave the UK for decades, but he dreamed of going on holiday by the seaside if his case was ever sorted.
The Home Office finally granted him indefinite leave to remain earlier this month after leaving him on immigration bail for more than 16 years.
Ponnampalam Jothibala. Photograph: Supplied
“I need a holiday after all this,” Jothibala said. “Many, many years ago I visited Spain and Portugal and loved these places. I have decided I will go to Barcelona for my holiday.”
He came to the UK in 1983 to go on a course at the London School of Accountancy, with hopes of forging a professional career. Education was highly valued in his family – both his parents were teachers and his close relatives are lawyers, doctors and accountants.
Instead, he has spent decades homeless and staying on people’s sofas, sometimes sleeping on a mat at the London Sree Ayyappan Temple in Harrow, where he helped out as a volunteer cook before the pandemic struck.
He was granted periods of temporary leave to remain by the Home Office in the 1980s but halted his studies after experiencing trauma as a victim of an arson attack in which three people died. He survived the fire by jumping out of a first-floor window.
He was convicted of fraud and theft in 2003, and the Home Office planned to deport him, but he lodged an appeal and an immigration judge ruled in his favour in May 2006. The judge found Jothibala had been pressured and intimidated by criminals into committing the crime, from which he had derived no benefit himself.
The Home Office mistakenly recorded on Jothibala’s file that he had lost rather than won his appeal, although officials took no steps to remove him from the UK, nor did they appeal against the judge’s ruling.
Jothibala in a Hindu temple in Harrow. Photograph: Supplied
A note on his Home Office file in July 2014 stated that Home Office officials, having spoken to the courts and tribunal service, now knew that the appeal had been upheld rather than dismissed. The note stated that “in light of the mishandling of the case following the determination of 2006”, the case would be reconsidered. However, no action was taken.
Jothibala’s solicitor, Naga Kandiah, of MTC Solicitors, sent a letter to the Home Office last year informing officials that he would be lodging judicial review proceedings if they did not resolve the matter speedily.
He said the Home Office had rejected an application he had made under the Windrush scheme, and called for an amnesty for Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1988.
Kandiah said: “This case is a sobering reminder of how a historic injustice can devastate a person’s life. My client has lost out on so many opportunities to progress in life. In 2006, his deportation order was overturned by the court but unfortunately nobody recognised that he was without formal status. After four decades in the UK I am so glad that the Home Office decided to exercise discretion and has granted him indefinite leave to remain.”
Last year, the Home Office told the Guardian it would be defending its approach in this case after Kandiah launched a legal challenge. When approached again about the decision to grant Jothibala indefinite leave, a spokesperson said the Home Office did not comment on individual cases.
Though still rare, the numbers of kids across the US reporting symptoms long after infection are increasing, doctors say
Javanese Hailey found her daughter hunched over in pain inside their home in Manassas, Virginia, about 32 miles south-west of Washington DC.
The nine-year-old could barely walk because her stomach hurt so much, Hailey said, recalling that Sunday evening in October.
So, she asked her basketball- and gymnastics-loving fourth-grader the question that had become routine in recent weeks: on a scale of zero to 10, how bad is the pain?
It’s above 10, her daughter, Haley Bryson, told her.
For about two months, Haley had experienced some combination of headache, fatigue, stomachache, sore throat, earache or breathlessness – reporting pain levels normally around six or seven. She would collapse into bed when she got home from school and ended up losing 17lb from her already small frame, her mother said.
“There did not seem to be a pattern to her symptoms,” said Hailey, a middle and high school math teacher. “Some days were worse than others. Some days she couldn’t even get out of the bed because her stomach hurt so much.”
She added: “It was the scariest thing I ever experienced in my life.”
The symptoms began soon after Haley and her mother contracted Covid-19 in early August. They both had a relatively mild reaction and recovered. But days later, Haley became sick again.
In October, after more than half a dozen trips to her pediatrician, urgent care and the emergency room, she was referred to Children’s National hospital in Washington DC, diagnosed with long Covid and treated in its Pediatric Post-Covid Program, which treats all ages up to 21.
Though long covid diagnosis is considered very rare in children, Haley is not alone. Some children across the US have reported an array of symptoms – ranging from headaches, stomachaches and dizziness, to fatigue, brain fog and mood changes – long after their initial infection.
Haley Bryson pre-Covid. Photograph: Courtesy of Javanese Hailey
Long Covid can last anywhere from four weeks to months – although definitions vary – and, while it presents differently based on developmental stage, doctors say it can affect virtually any age, even infants.
Of the more than 848,000 people who have died in the US from Covid during the pandemic, 727 have been under age 18, according to the CDC. Less than 1.5% of child Covid cases have resulted in hospitalization, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
However, vaccine availability and uptake for children has consistently lagged behind adults in the US. It wasn’t until May that the CDC recommended the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children ages 12 to 15, and then not until November that it recommended it for those ages five to 11. Children under the age of five are still not eligible.
Only 20% of five- to 11-year-olds have been fully vaccinated, and 55% of 12-to-17-year-olds, while all adult age groups are at least 60%, according to the CDC.
Plenty of questions surround pediatric long Covid, including exactly how common it is. One Danish study published in the European Journal of Pediatrics in December surveyed about 37,500 children. It found less than 1% of Covid-positive children reported symptoms lasting more than four weeks, compared with a control group. A report from April out of Italy that surveyed 129 children who tested positive for Covid found that about 43% experienced at least one symptom more than 60 days after their initial infection.
In recent months, doctors at some pediatric Covid centers have reported an increase in referrals and patient load. Some have set about expanding clinics or restructuring schedules, while others have found themselves working their way through long waitlists.
The reason for the increase is probably twofold, explained Laura Malone, a physician at the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Pediatric Post-Covid-19 Rehabilitation Clinic. There is a lot more understanding and acceptance of the condition, leading more families to seek treatment. At the same time, there has also probably been an uptick in long Covid cases following the Delta-fueled surge, as it can take months before patients with the condition are diagnosed and treated after infection.
“The larger the denominator, the more people you have that do have the infection, the more numbers or higher numbers you’re going to get with those with complications from it, like long Covid,” explained Malone, who said Kennedy Krieger’s clinic has had to expand twice over the last six to eight months due to an increase in cases.
Over the past year, the clinic, which meets three half days a month, has seen 47 patients, with over one-third of those patients coming in September, October and November.
Dr Alexandra Brugler Yonts, director of the Pediatric Post-Covid Program at the Children’s National hospital, said they are booked out until March. She explained that over half of the program’s 60 patients had come in just the last three months, despite opening in May 2021.
“A lot of the thought is, ‘Oh it’s just a cold, you know, we get through that.’ But we don’t yet know why certain folks get long Covid and others do not,” she said. “And so you’re getting infected, you’re taking a gamble, rolling the dice that you might, hopefully won’t be one of the ones that has long-term complications.”
The long Covid clinic at Texas Children’s hospital, which has seen a total of 62 patients, has been at its max of six patients or higher a month since September, according to Dr Kristen Sexson Tejtel, its co-director. It’s now in the process of increasing from half days to full days to double the number of patients it can see.
Dr Sarah Risen, its co-director, said increased awareness of long Covid is probably causing at least part of the swell.
“With this increased awareness and acceptance, it allows providers also to start to diagnose and treat and help support the child and the family earlier,” She said.
Dr Carlos Oliveira, pediatric infectious diseases doctor at Yale Medicine, said the Yale New Haven children’s post-Covid care program received 6-8 long covid referrals per month between August and November.
He said there are only theories about what causes long Covid. One hypothesis is that some of the virus proteins linger in the body and continually leak into the bloodstream, causing an immune system reaction. Another one is that it’s a type of autoimmune process in which antibodies made against the virus attack the host, leading to damage long after the virus is gone.
There have been several studies launched in recent months into long Covid. In an especially large-scale effort, theUS National Institutes of Health announced it was starting nationwide studies. The research will include children.
In the meantime, Dr Frank Bell, pediatric infectious disease physician at Swedish medical center in Seattle and a member of the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics board of trustees, emphasized the importance of vaccination.
“By being careful about your exposures … and by being immunized, and by your supporting kids in their recovery from Covid, we think we’ve got a good way to bring that small risk down to something that’s even less likely to happen and be a worry for an individual child or his or her family,” he said.
Doctors have already begun to prepare for the impact the Omicron surge could have on the numbers of long Covid cases.
“It’s hard for me to say what will happen, but we are preparing for a large wave of kids … because the numbers of adolescents and children who have been infected are so high,” said Oliveira.
“It’s bound to lead to a higher number of long Covid based on the numbers alone.”
For Haley, who recently turned 10, five months after her initial infection, her mother said virtually all of her symptoms have finally gone away. But the fear has not.
Each time her daughter complains of a minor stomachache or headache, Hailey said she gets worried that the condition has returned.
“It just takes me back in a flashback to everything that we went through,” she said.
But Haley said she’s just happy to be feeling better so she can get back to her playdates and gymnastics.
“I can have more playdates and have more fun on playdates. I can do arts and crafts and gymnastics and kind of just be silly and run around the stairs and stuff,” she said.
When asked what her pain level is now, she said with little hesitation: “Zero!”
Chairman of the National Construction Association Susantha Liyanarachchi speaking to a briefing held today (01) urged the government that the price of cement must be controlled immediately, in the event that importers are behind the mafia of soaring cement prices.
The briefing comes in following the increased cement prices and the shortage of cement in the market.
“When there is a cement mafia, when the cement factories release 75 per cent of the stocks to the hardwares and the dealers and the small and medium scale businessman has to purchase a bag of cement for Rs. 1900 – 2000, how can this industry continue? This is why we are telling the government to stop this, or to give us a quota for a reasonable price. Should this continue, the industry will be lost,” he said.
As of now, there is a shortage of about three hundred thousand bags of cement, Liyanarachchi revealed, adding that he, however, believes that this mafia may come to an end upon the two cement factories currently in construction.
Sri Lanka tourism takes a new direction towards achieving sustainability exploring the development of more Signature experiences that align with the emerging post-Covid travel trends.
The first step towards this initiative was taken by the tourism ministry in collaboration with the European Union by unveiling the first ever long distance walking track .
Sharing his views while walking the trail, Ambassador of the EU Delegation in Sri Lanka, Denis Chaibi Ambassador Chaibi said, “As an avid biker, I’ve been all over the country and am amazed by the tourism potential here – particularly when you take the time to get off the beaten track.
Sri Lanka has suffered multiple crises since 2019, leaving the tourism industry and the people dependent on it very vulnerable.
The European Union is committed to working closely with the Government of Sri Lanka. This trail experience allows us to explore the development of more signature experiences that align with the emerging post-Covid travel trends. We are also delighted that USAID has joined with us in this effort,”he added.
The Ambassador of the EU Delegation in Sri Lanka, Denis Chaibi launched the initial stage of the island’s first ever long distance walking trail, with the unveiling of the signage at the trailhead.
The Heritage Trails project identifies a collection of destination-based walking trails across the island starting with a more than 300-kilometer walking path traversing the hills of Sri Lanka.
The interconnecting trail network will be the first of a series of walking trails that allow visitors to discover the varying terrain, history, culture, food and local community by foot, in short sections or as part of a multi-day experience.
The development of the trails is part of the EU’s 5.7 million Euro investment (1.3 billion Rupees) in support of Sri Lanka’s national tourism strategy – including the development of signature experiences that are authentic, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) committed a further $787,000 (approximately LKR 160 million) to support the initiative. The project is implemented by the International Executive Service Corps.
Meanwhile, commenting on the overall project, Minister of Tourism, Prasanna Ranatunga said, “We value the support extended to us by the European Union and the United States to this vital sector of our economy and are confident that programs like this one will help some of the most vulnerable businesses stay in operation and safeguard the livelihoods of the many individuals directly and indirectly employed in the sector.
Travelers from the European Union account for nearly half of all tourists visiting Sri Lanka, and we are happy to witness a continued growth in arrivals from the EU since October 2021.”
USAID Mission Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Reed Aeschliman said, “For over 60 years, USAID has invested in Sri Lanka’s growth. We are excited to partner with the Government of Sri Lanka and the European Union to shine the spotlight on Sri Lanka’s natural heritage and support the tourism sector with a long-term, sustainable initiative.”
The Heritage Trails project complements the foundation of the trail network with initiatives supporting tourism employment and entrepreneurship. These include a grants program to help establish and sustain small enterprises that can support Sri Lanka’s new signature experiences, as well as training for tourism workers, owners, and managers.
The European Union and USAID have provided economic and humanitarian support to Sri Lanka for decades. The Heritage Trails initiative is one component of these longstanding partnerships.
The CID has informed the court that it has commenced an investigation into two businessmen who fraudulently remitted US $ 260 million worth of goods abroad under the pretext of importing goods.
It is said that the CID has reported the matter to the Colombo Chief Magistrate Buddhika C. Ragala yesterday (31).
The CID has informed the court that it was revealed that the two businessmen had sent US dollars from Sri Lanka to foreign countries, indicating that they were importing dates, gold, and other goods through a company registered as Noora Multi Traders.
Accordingly, they have informed the court that an investigation has been initiated against them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 5 of 2006.
