Chickenpox shuts down Sri Lankan university faculty

chickenpox

Chickenpox PHOTO: Independent

Chickenpox PHOTO: Independent

An outbreak of chickenpox on Thursday forced Sri Lanka’s Rajarata University to shut down academic activities of the agriculture faculty for some two weeks.

The Faculty Dean, A.M. Adikari, said that 15 students fell sick with chickenpox a week ago and it started spreading afterwards.
He said the faculty was closed for two weeks to prevent the disease from spreading further.

There are 350 students attached to the agriculture faculty of Rajarata University located in the north central province of Sri Lanka.

“Students vacated their hostels on Thursday. We are planning to open the faculty for academic activities again on June 4.

“We decided to close the faculty upon recommendations by the medical officer of the university,” he said.

The dean said the sudden changes of the weather pattern in the area had caused the outbreak of the disease.

Similarly, at least 12 people have been killed and more than 120,000 affected by strong winds and heavy rains that lashed out across Sri Lanka since on May 19, Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre said.

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With more rains predicted, the water levels in major rivers across the country have continued to rise, leading to emergency evacuations of people living in low areas.

DMC spokesperson, Pradeep Kodippoli, said hundreds of people in the north central and south of Sri Lanka had been evacuated on Wednesday night and housed in temporary shelters.

He said the police and military were also engaged in search and rescue missions and to provide relief to those, who were affected by the rising water levels.

President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday instructed relevant authorities to immediately provide relief to the affected people.

The president directed officials to provide relief supplies to those affected and take steps to provide all requirements.

Sri Lanka is facing its annual southwest monsoons with the Meteorological Department in its latest weather report warning of more rains in several districts across the country in the coming days.

No fewer than 200 people were killed and 78 people missing when the southwest monsoons caused severe floods and landslides across Sri Lanka in 2017.

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