Health authorities are set to carry out Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) on people crossing the borders of the Western Province today (18) until further notice. The decision has been taken to prevent Covid-19 spreading to areas outside the Western Province during the upcoming festive season according to local English daily, the Daily Mirror.
According to a letter to Provincial Director of Health Services (Western Province) it stated that the testing would be carried out to identify risk of passengers in three locations in the Province and also to prevent the virus from spreading to other districts.
The sources said the tests would be carried out on random individuals.
The process will be facilitated by the police. In addition, respective Regional Directors of Health Services must deploy their teams to the following locations to carry out Antigen tests, it reported.
- Nittambuwa along the Kandy-Colombo Road
- Salawa, Kosgama along Avissawella-Colombo Road
- Katunayake along Colombo-Chilaw Road
The Ministry said the decision had been taken under a directive of the Director General of Health Services.
