Sri Lanka imposes nationwide curfew to combat rising coronavirus cases

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Sri Lanka imposes nationwide curfew to combat rising coronavirus cases
Sri Lanka imposes nationwide curfew to combat rising coronavirus cases

Colombo : Sri Lankan on Friday imposed a nationwide curfew till Monday to combat the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 9,000 lives globally. 

The announcement on curfew comes a day after the Election Commission said that the parliamentary elections will be postponed from the scheduled April 25 date. The Commission said a decision on the new date would be taken after March 25.

The country is to be placed under a curfew with effect from 6 pm (local time) tonight until 6 am (local time) on Monday, President Rajapaksa’s office said.

The office did not reveal any specific reason behind the announcement, while it is believed that the steps have been taken to stop the movement of people which could promote social distancing. 

The national centre tasked to prevent COVID-19 infections said out of the 66 confirmed cases so far, 25 were returnees from overseas.

It said 22 of them were from Italy while 2 from the UK and one from India.

Over 2,400 people are going through quarantine which includes 27 foreign nationals, it added.

Meanwhile, the claims of country lockdown have been refused completely by the President, saying that economic hardship will come forward for the poor segment.

China with 80,967 infected cases and 3,248 deaths tops the list followed by Italy (41,035 cases and 3,405 deaths), Iran (18,304 infected cases and 1,284 deaths), Spain (19,077 infected cases and 831 deaths), Germany (15,320 infected cases and 44 deaths) and France (10,995 infected cases and 372 deaths).