Twelve police divisions in Colombo city will remain isolated although the curfew in the Western Province is withdrawn tomorrow. The reason is the spread of COVID-19 in these police areas.The isolated police divisions are, Mattakkuliya, Modara, Bloemandahl, Kotahena, Grandpass, Coastal, Aduruppu Weediya, Maligawatta, Dematogoda, Wellampitiya, Borella and Keselwatta. 

Sri Lanka's Director General of Health Services Asela Gunawardane said that the daily cost for PCR testing by the Ministry of Health is Rs. 60 million. The official said that the government bears around Rs. 6,000 per a test for the test alone. Laboratory Technicians' Union Chairman Ravi Kumudesh said that the cost for a test is as high as Rs. 10,000 with safety equipment and other costs. Sri

Sri Lanka's Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport is equipped with a Robotic Arm PCR Testing facility. The facility will reduce the time taken to conduct PCR testing and reporting from 8 hours to approximately 2.5 hours.The speed robotic PCR testing facility is capable of testing 32 samples in parallel, enable significantly safer and faster testing and reporting regime in a mere 2.5 hours ...

Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) of Sri Lanka protested the withdrawal of curfew in the entire Western Province on Monday without proper study. Haritha Aluthge, editor of GMOA said that there was a threat of the coronavirus spreading throughout the country if the country is opened without necessary precautions like travel restrictions to risk areas. He said that the creation of new ...

13 deaths occurred with a week in Sri Lanka due to COVID-19. Four deaths were reported yesterday, Tuesday, 7 November 2020. Two deaths were reported from Maligawatta in Colombo city. A 42-year-old woman died of a heart attack. She suffered from a chronic illness. The other woman is 69 years old. She suffered from many illnesses and died in National Hospital due to pneumonia. A male person of 69

Health Promotion Bureau of Sri Lanka Ministry of Health issued guidelines for people who are under home quarantine. The persons who have either associated or suspected of associating a COVID-19 person but do not show symptoms must undergo self-quarantine at home. If the associate is a first-level contact of a COVID-19 patient the entire family must undergo home quarantine. However, the family

Director of Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said that the quarantine of the associates of the COVID-19 patients will be done at home in future. Only the persons like patients with chronic illnesses who cannot undergo home quarantine will be admitted to a quarantine centre.  The persons under home quarantine will be freed after 14 days ...

Secretary of Public Health Inspectors' Association of Sri Lanka, Mahendra Balasuriya said that there is a drop of newly identified COVID-19 patients in Gampaha district. The official highlighted that the people in the district are better in terms of following health guidelines. The district is under curfew for more than a month now. However, about half of the 400 new COVID-19 cases identified

Dead bodies of two newborn elephant cubs were recovered from Welikanda area of Polonnaruwa district of Sri Lanka. The deaths are believed happened two days ago. Wildlife officials are investigating whether the dead cubs are twins. Twin birth of elephants is a rare occurrence and such birth reported from Minneriya National Park of Sri Lanka in July 2020. (Source: Lankadeepa Sinhala newspaper)

The entrepreneurs who obtained the low-interest government loan to revive businesses affected by COVID-19 can now apply to Central Bank of Sri Lanka for an extension up to nine months to pay back the loan. The interest for this loan was 4% and the recipients were given 24 months to payback. The government previously offered six months grace period and now the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has agreed

Sri Lanka Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris said that holding GCE Advanced Level examination amidst COVID-19 was a victory.The  Minister said that six candidates were found positive for coronavirus by the beginning of the examination. Within three weeks, the number increased to 29. The number of candidates who were sent for quarantine was 568. Invigilators had to be replaced due to the

Sri Lanka's major opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) accused that the government was trying to quit from the responsibility of COVID-19 pushing the people into trouble while four deaths had been reported today by the time the press conference was held. Addressing a press conference held today SJB Puttalm district MP Hector Appuhamy questioned what the government could deliver to the people

Socialist Student Union (SSU) says that students who faced GCE Advanced Level examination in 2019 face a severe injustice. The reason is that the university entrance is scheduled without taking actions to maximise the opportunities for the students for university entrance. The results, z-scores and ranks are lined up according to the new syllabus and old syllabus. The examination was held on both

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka recently ordered the Inspector General of Police to pay the damage of Rs. 100,000 to a young man as compensation for violating his human rights by brutally assaulting and breaking an arm after taking him into custody on 25 September 2013. Two other police officers, the former Headquarters Inspector of Anuradhapura police station and a Sub Inspector were ordered to Rs.

Sri Lanka government is planning to follow strict measures to control the spread of COVID-19 after withdrawing the curfew imposed in the Western Province since next Monday.These measures include more PCR tests, tracing contacts, self-quarantining, transport management and following strict health measures at workplaces and businesses. Army Commander Shavendra Silva said that the situation is under

Sri Lanka's Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union secretary Anton Marcus said that the attempt of some employers of the private sector to cut the October salary of the employees was illegal. Marcus said that he had received complaints from the employees that some companies had decided to pay either Rs. 14,500 or the half-month salary if it was higher ...

Arsalan Tariq Khawaja, the brother of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja was sentenced by an Australian court for plotting to brand Sri Lankan Mohamed Nizamdeen a terrorist, trying to penalize him for an offence had had not done.Arsalan Khawaja scrawled blueprints about killing prominent politicians and attacking Sydney landmarks in a notepad he stole from the budding IT business analyst Mohamed

Well known Sri Lankan academic and political and economic analyst Prof. Rohan Samarajiva said that the election in the US was not a unified election conducted by a central election commission, but a collection of 51 separate elections with lots of postal ballots and such making it unlikely that the final results will be known in a few hours.Further analysing the election especially focusing on

Sri Lanka Ministry of Health and COVID-19 Task Force have granted permission to go ahead with 2020 LPL (Lankan Premier League) of Sri Lanka Cricket. Commenting on Twitter about this permission, Minister of Sports Namal Rajapaksa thanked President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, saying this is indicatory of the government's commitment to adapt to new normalcy and to return

Sri Lanka government sources say that plans are underway to remove the curfew imposed in parts of the island and to reopen the country with strict quarantine regulations.Meanwhile, government sources said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had been against the quarantine curfews imposed in parts of the country. However, the curfew had been approved by him because of the pressure mainly from the