COVID-19 pandemic crisis management in Sri Lanka. Slipping away from success

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the strategies pursued by the Government of Sri Lanka to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, its variants and the associated crises. The Government of Sri Lanka initially took several precautionary measures against the spread of the pandemic, such as enforcing social distancing, quarantining, creating social security networks, locking down and so on. The actions taken by the government and the public response to these were significant during the initial phase. Despite the success of the initial phase of operations, the government is now facing a crisis in coping with the subsequent waves of the Covid-19 spread. With the massive economic crisis already confronting the Sri Lankan government, the spread of Covid-19 pandemic has further aggravated the country's economic situation and eroded public trust in the government. In this backdrop, the Sri Lankan government will have to formulate a number of new strategies to meaningfully address the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.