COLOMBO (New 1st); The National Operations Center for the Prevention of the COVID-19 Epidemic (NOCPCO) will be converted into an operations center for green agriculture as of Thursday (9), announced the army commander, Gen. Shavendra Silva.

“As of today (9), the National Operations Center for the Prevention of the COVID-19 Epidemic (NOCPCO) will disintegrate from activities related to the pandemic”, announced the army commander, noting that the NOCPO was established on March 16, 2020 and has been in operation for almost two years.

“As a team, we have tirelessly controlled the global pandemic in our country. Led by the Minister and Director General of Health, medical and public care staff will be able to further improve pandemic control in the future, ”he said.

NOCPCO will become the National Operations Center for Green Agriculture, he said.

The army chief thanked the members of the main committee of NOCPCO, the panel of experts and the working groups, the doctors and pre-interns, the commanders of the three armed forces, as well as the staff and the Sri Lankan police.

He also thanked the media for their role in reaching people to control the pandemic, contributing airtime to these efforts.

Sri Lankan army statement:

The National Operations Center for the Prevention of the COVID-19 Epidemic (NOCPCO) in Rajagriya, so far remained functional, headed by General Shavendra Silva, chief of defense and commander of the army as he central umbrella organization which coordinated all prevention, control, quarantine and other operations related to the pandemic on the instructions given by HE the President will cease his functions at the end of nearly one year and nine months after its inauguration on March 16, 2020.

Announcing its culmination of COVID-19 operations, General Shavendra Silva, head of NOCPCO this afternoon (8) had the final meeting session of the NOCPCO working group, attended by its members both physically and virtually , including the Director General of Health Services, Dr Asela Gunawardene.

“As a team, we have been working tirelessly for almost 2 years to control a global pandemic in our country as members of a team, led by HE the President and the government of Sri Lanka. We have experienced three major epidemics or waves during this time and this teamwork has been given enormous challenges to protect the citizens of this great country from an unseen threat. We have worked together as a main committee, group of experts and different working groups to formulate strategies, implement different plans and modalities to control this pandemic and these efforts have never enabled the people of this great country to live in a crisis situation, despite many challenges. “

“The strategies and modalities proposed by this group have resulted in effective patient management, contact tracing, quarantine and vaccination of our entire population and the country is now fully open,” with some limited restrictions. I am confident that the Ministry of Health, medical and public health staff will be able to further improve the pandemic control work in the future and enter the year 2022 as Sri Lanka without COVID. “

From today this operations center will begin to contribute to another gigantic national effort as the 1906 hotline and 1904 SMS service will be taken over by the Department of Health with the integrated patient management system and a new hotline would come into effect for the new operation. center. We have already compiled the experiences of the National Operations Center (NOCPCO) into a document, and the final version of this document will be released in the coming days.

“As Head of the National Operations Center, I take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to the members of the core committee, to the members of the independent expert panel and to the members of the various working groups as well as to the physicians and physicians. pre-interns. who have worked at NOCPCO for their invaluable contribution to this great nation. Likewise, there were a number of professionals, intellectuals, government and private sector representatives, individuals, groups of individuals who willingly stepped forward to help us in so many ways and ways. I warmly thank them all for their contribution. Finally, I highly appreciate and commend the contribution and support provided by medical and public health personnel at all levels, members of the three forces, police, members of the intelligence services and citizens of this great nation to help NOCPCO fight this pandemic, ”concluded General Shavendra Silva.