Why Sri Lanka's response to Covid-19 is the most successful in South Asia
According to world TRT world Turkish state international news channel, Early lockdown, fast-tracking of Covid-19 suspects and financial intervention in key areas are the most significant highlights of Sri Lanka's Covid-19 success story.
As the subcontinent struggles to flatten the coronavirus curve, with India alone recording 2.7 million cases and taking the third spot in the world, Sri Lanka offers a glimmer of hope in curbing the daily infection rate.
So far the country has recorded 2,893 cases among its population of 21.67 million people.
How did the Sri Lankan government manage to keep the deadly virus at bay?
Early lockdown, a high testing rate and effective social distancing measures have proved to be key for Sri Lanka in their fight against the pandemic and keeping the infection rate low.
From March to the end of April, the country had conducted 930 tests per 1 million people, while its South Asian neighbours had a very low testing rate: Bangladesh (393), India (602) and Pakistan (703).
"More than 50 percent of the COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka are of people between the ages of 20-60. These are relatively younger people who are less vulnerable to a severe presentation of the disease. A reason why most of the cases are mild may be that the lockdown in Sri Lanka started very early," said Razia Pendse, a WHO representative to Sri Lanka.