Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 and Efforts to Prevent Community Transmission: The Sri Lankan Experience

Abstract Background – With the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Sri Lanka took proactive measures to prevent a community outbreak in the country. This paper describes the measures taken by the government in the initial stages to contain the virus, along with the epidemiological characteristics of the first 200 laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients.Methods – Telephone interviews were conducted for first 200 consecutive patients diagnosed with COVID-19, after obtaining informed verbal consent. Descriptive data are presented as binary variables and in frequency distribution tables.Results- From the diagnosis of the first patient, 76 days elapsed for the first 200 patients to be diagnosed. Majority were males in the 40-49 age group. There were three foreign nationals, while others were Sri Lankans. Among the Sri Lankans, 81 (41.1%) had an overseas travel history. Following implementation of the cohort quarantine concept, 47% of the overseas returnees were reported from quarantine centres. Over two-thirds of the patients presented with symptoms (n=137, 68.5%) and the most common symptoms were fever, cough and sore throat. The case fatality rate for the sample was 3.5%. out of the 200 patients, 103 (51.5%) were primary patients, while 92 (46%) were secondary patients. The source of exposure could not be determined for five patients. Conclusions – Due to measures instigated by the government, such as cohort quarantining, extensive contact tracing and testing of close contacts, Sri Lanka was able to prevent a wide spread community outbreak of COVID-19.