Sri Lanka was added to England's safe travel list on Thursday, November 19th. Travellers from Sri Lanka will no longer have to self-isolate on arrival in England from Saturday November 21st.The other countries that were newly included to this facility are Namibia, Rwanda, Bonaire, St Eustatius & Saba, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Sri Lanka does not provide this
Fact Check Sri Lanka stated that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's statement on the budget deficit for 2019 increased to 9.6% of GDP was wrong. Quoting annual reports from the Ministry of Finance, Fact Check Sri Lanka said, "It is incorrect to compare a value of 5.7% in 2014, which does not account for unpaid claims, against a figure of 8.4% in 2019, which ...
(Opinion by Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe, Editor) European Union (EU) indicated today that the special Generalised System of Preferences (GSP+) offered by the EU to Sri Lanka hung in the balance. GSP+ is the system of preferential trading arrangements through which the European Union extends preferential access to its markets to developing countries. GSP+ provides Sri Lanka competitive, predominantly ...
International Cricket Council (ICC) announced today that former Sri Lanka paceman Nuwan Zoysa had been found guilty of match-fixing by an independent anti-corruption tribunal. Accordingly, he would be sanctioned, ICC said. Nuwan Zoysa was provisionally suspended in October 2018 and charged with three offences under the ICC's anti-corruption code, including "being party to an agreement or effort ...
Sri Lanka Ministry of Education decided to open the schools outside of Western Province and the isolated areas since next Monday, 23rd of November.The schools were to start for the third term on November 09 but it was postponed for two weeks due to spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, teachers from the Western Province have no permission to work in schools outside the Province. There are many such
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal acquitted two former senior public officials loyal to the present government from a case on misappropriating state funds for a presidential election campaign of Mahinda Rajapaksa.Accordingly, former Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga and former Director-General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC), Anusha Palpita were acquitted from the case
Sri Lanka Police Media Spokesman Deputy Inspector General Ajith Rohana said to media that the police had already remanded two persons and looking for another 29 to arrest for saying in social media that people fell on the roads and died due to COVID-19. He said that two persons had been arrested and remanded from Kadugannawa and Hanthana. Twenty-seven more are identified locally and are to be
Sri Lanka Health sector started the use of Rapid Antigen Test since today (November 18). The Ministry of Health gave permission to use the test, Dr. Sudath Samaraweera, the Director of the Epidemiology Unit said. The test is available in several selected hospitals. The report of the Rapid Antigen Test can be obtained within 30 minutes.
Eight months after infection, most people who have recovered still have enough immune cells to fend off the COVID-19 virus and prevent illness, reported New York Times, quoting recent research.“That amount of memory would likely prevent the vast majority of people from getting hospitalized disease, severe disease, for many years,” said Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute of
Sri Lanka Police Media Spokesman Deputy Inspector General Ajith Rohana said a special operation would be conducted by the intelligence units to nab the violators of quarantine regulations. He said that stern action would be taken against such culprits. He pointed out that the use of drone cameras for surveillance was successful. Ninety-five persons had been taken into custody for violating travel ...
One prisoner was killed in Bogambara prison in Kandy last night. Five prisoners tried to escape and another prisoner was injured while one escaped, Prisons Commissioner-General Thushara Upuldeniya said. Prison officers have arrested two escapees, he said.The deceased is identified as 30-year-old Abdul Raheem of Anuradhapura. He had succumbed to the injuries sustained due to the fall from the top
Opinion by Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe, EditorIn 2021 budget proposals, the Sri Lanka government invited the fraudulent businessmen to pump their hidden money to boost the ailing economy. "For the benefit of the country, I request all entrepreneurs to utilize the funds hidden locally or internationally in order to evade laws relating to taxes and foreign exchange. It is expected to make legal
FactCheck (@factchecklka) pointed out that Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's budget speech included wrong facts about tax collection. The Prime Minister said, "Tax in place of the various goods and service taxes and levies, imposed under multiple laws and institutions on alcohol, cigarettes, Telecommunication, betting and gaming and vehicles, which accounts for 50 percent of ...
Sri Lanka's major opposition MP Dilip Wedaarachchi ate raw fish today before media and urged people to eat fish to save fishermen. He said fish is safe despite COVID-19 and people must eat it at this difficult moment of the industry. Wedaarachchi said that he hailed from a family of fisher community leaders and knows how safe is this nutritious food."There are about 35-40 types of small
This photo was published by a Facebook Page named as MOH Office Pelmadulla of Sri Lanka's Rathnapura district. The description in the photo says that the covered corpse belongs to a man who arrived in a house in Sandasilugama, Ketethenna on November 16. He came in a bus from Peliyagoda, an area under the risk of COVID-19. The report said he had fallen in the compound of the house a few hours
An SUV vehicle that crashed into Nanda motors building in Colombo yesterday damaging the building several vehicles in the showroom had been driven by a daughter of a senior police officer, reports say. The same police officer's son reportedly drove a Defender over the traffic OIC of Borella police station, Ananda Sagara Sarathchandra in February 2019 and fled. The severely injured police officer
Sri Lanka's grade 5 scholarship examination results are out. The practical pass mark of this examination is around 85% in most districts of the country. In Sinhala medium, the cut off mark is 169 in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kandy, Matale, Galle and Matara districts.At least five students have reportedly achieved all 200 marks in the examination. The highly competitive grade 5 scholarship
The number of COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Sri Lanka yesterday is the second-highest number of cases reported in Sri Lanka within a single day. The number of cases of COVID-19 recorded on 15 November 2020 was 704 (Health Promotion Bureau COVID-19 dashboard). However, 866 cases were reported on October 24 (WHO statistics)Five deaths were reported on 15 November. All of them were from Colombo city.
Janaka Adhikari, Attorney-at-Law, Financial Secretary of Ethera Api organization said that the government was not attending the burning problems of the Sri Lankan expatriate workers. "Many Sri Lankan workers in the Middle East cannot return home because the government has no proper plan for repatriation," he charged. Ethera Api organization pointed out that contracts of some of these expatriate ...