Sri Lanka detects first community case of Delta variant of coronavirus PTI Updated Jun 18, 2021, 1:31 pm IST Sri Lanka's COVID-19 vaccination began in late January with India's gift of 500,000 Covishield AstraZeneca vaccines Sri Lankan health officials collect swab samples from people to test for the coronavirus in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 10, 2021. (AP/Eranga Jayawardena) Colombo: Sri Lankan authorities have said that the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 has been detected for the first time in the community. Chandima Jeewandara of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura here said the strain was detected in samples collected from an area in the Colombo central suburb of Dematagoda.