Integrating Health and Urban Security: Urban Management Approach that Contained COVID-19 Wave-1 in Sri Lanka

The rapid transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) resulted in more than 664.6 million infected patients worldwide by 31^st December 2022, with 6.69 million deaths. Despite having formidable medical facilities, the USA, India, France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Italy, UK and Russia etc. were leading the tables in terms of patient numbers. At the epicenter of the pandemic, numerous strategies were adopted around the world to fight the virus. The ever-changing nature of the threat made it even deadlier in a safety perspective, as the enemy was undetectable in the form of a virus that endangered human existence. A change in the perception of ‘threat’ in terms of a security viewpoint was fostered; from a ‘visible’ to an ‘invisible’ one. The early intervention with the military being placed in control in urban/rural areas was identified as an effective grassroots level means to control the virus in Sri Lanka. In this context, COVID-19 was considered as a security threat than a health threat. The Chinese way of source control, spread control and virus tracing was carried out by the Sri Lankan military as well as police in order to contain its spread. Approximately ten weeks of Sri Lanka’s progress that was recorded during wave-1 of the pandemic has been discussed here, in comparison to examples from around the world. In this light, the paper attempts justification of the successful military-led urban management system as it happened in Sri Lanka, so it could be applied elsewhere.