Islandwide curfew imposed as Sri Lanka records world’s fourth highest daily deaths by population.

Sri Lanka has become the country with fourth highest deaths per million persons after Georgia and Tunisia and Malaysia among countries with a population over a million, an analysis of global data showed on 14th August according to the worldometer of the John Hopkins University.

Total lives claimed by the COVID-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka now stand over 6,000 as a record high of 161 new victims were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Saturday (August 14). 

This marks the seventh consecutive day that the daily count of COVID-related deaths surpassed 100 and the last 1,000 deaths being reported in just eight days, compared to 15 days for the previous 1000.

Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO), Army Commander General Shavendra Silva announced that an island wide quarantine ‘night’ curfew will be imposed. Howevert the government is yet to lockdown the country.

Island-wide quarantine curfew will come into effect between 10.00 pm and 4.00 am from today  (August 16), and the quarantine curfew order will be in effect every day until further notice, the Army Commander said further.

Accordingly, movement of the members of public is strictly restricted during this period, except for employees in essential services.

Crossing provincial borders has been prohibited except for those engaged in essential services and employees of certain sectors. 

The crossing of provincial borders will be allowed for the purposes of attending a funeral of a close relative or for medical treatment.

All weddings functions, irrespective of the venue, will not be allowed to be held from Tommorow (August 17) midnight. The decision has been taken as a measure to control the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country. Accordingly, weddings, whether held at home or at a reception hall, will not be permitted until further notice.

Further, no activity that amasses the public will be allowed to be carried out from midnight today, Head of NOCPCO General Shavendra Silva stated.

Meanwhile, restaurants can allow dine-in customers only up to 50 percent of their capacity, the NOCPCO further said. However, the government requests the public to avoid gathering in crowded places as much as possible, General Silva said.

Total lives claimed by the COVID-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka now stand over 6,000 as a record high of 161 new victims were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Saturday (August 14)

This marks the seventh consecutive day that the daily count of COVID-related deaths surpassed 100.

The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka to 6,096.

According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims confirmed today include 83 males and 78 females.

As many as 122 deaths were reported among the elderly people who are aged above 60 years. In addition, 38 individuals aged between 30-59 years and one female below 30 years have also succumbed to the virus infection.