Sri Lankan government to remove pandemic restrictions despite continuing Delta variant infections
The Sri Lankan government is preparing to abandon its limited pandemic restrictions, despite continuing infections of the highly-contagious Delta variant across the island.
On July 5, President Gotabhaya Rajapakse said that he would fully reopen the country by September, claiming that by that time everyone over 30 years of age would be vaccinated. “To face the pandemic, the only solution is the vaccination,” he declared, but then added: “Without opening the country we cannot sustain the economy.”
Workers jostle to get seat in bus at Kottawa [Credit: WSWS]
In May last year, the government, in response to big business demands, fully reopened the economy. It was forced, however, to later impose some restrictions because the reopening paved the way for a sharp surge of infections and deaths.
COVID-19 VACCINATION AND THE VIP LIST island.lk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from island.lk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
(MENAFN - NewsIn.Asia)
Colombo, February 18 (Daily Mirror) - Health officers from the Colombo Municipal Council yesterday said that nightclubs operating in Colombo city had not obtained permission to re-open and they should be closed immediately owing to the present COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Medical Officer of the CMC Dr. Ruwan Wijemuni told Daily Mirror that following discussions with the Health Ministry, a decision had been taken that operating nightclubs should shut down immediately and if they are kept open, people should inform the police. They had never obtained any permission to open the nightclubs. They have to be kept closed. People should complain to the police if they are open as only the police have the power to close them, Dr. Wijemuni said.
Shut down nightclubs, or call the police - CMC menafn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from menafn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Public Health Inspectors Union yesterday warned of sub clusters emerging in some other provinces as there were COVID-19 patients who were detected there, from those who had travelled out of the Western Province during the festive season.
PHI Union Secretary Mahesh Balasuriya told the Daily Mirror that they had received reports of patients being detected from the Central Province, Eastern Province and North Western Province, and these were patients who had travelled during the holiday season from the Colombo district. some who had travelled were the first contacts who had tested positive. This is why we requested the authorities to impose travel restrictions between the districts to prevent the virus from going out of the Western Province.now there is a threat of a rise in the number of positive patients from those districts in the coming weeks or even sub clusters emerging, balasuriya said.he urged authorities to increase PCR tests in those districts immediately to detect mor