Nearly 195 staff members of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital in Galle have been infected with COVID19 during the past two months, said Director of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, Galle, Dr. Shelton Perera.

He added that the infected persons were identified during inspections carried out on hospital staff during the period from August 01 to September 30. Karapitiya TH is the biggest healthcare facility in the Southern province.

The Director said doctors, nurses and junior staff members were among those infected with the virus. A large number of healthcare workers getting infected with the virus remained one of the key challenges for the Sri Lankan healthcare system during the fourth wave of the pandemic which broke out after the Sinhala - Tamil New Year.

However, over the past few days, Sri Lanka has seen a significant decline in the number of COVID19 reported per day. According to available statistics, 21 patients have been admitted to the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital during the last 24 hours and 06 deaths have been reported.