News
Inter-provincial travel ban to be lifted on Oct. 31
Flagrant violations largely ignored during restrictions
ECONOMYNEXT – The ongoing inter-provincial travel ban will be lifted on October 31, the national COVID-19 prevention task force said, despite social media accounts – and sometimes pictures – of people openly flouting the ban.
The restriction was imposed in conjunction with an island-wide lockdown, officially known as a quarantine curfew, that the government declared on August 20 amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Despite the lockdown being relaxed on October 01 as cases began to drop, the inter-province travel restriction has remained, at least on paper.
Critics, however, claim that people have been traveling – some even going on trips – around the country blatantly ignoring the ban, despite President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordering the authorities to strictly enforce it from October 21.
“After a discussion among the task force on Friday (23), with the permission of the president, it was decided to lift the travel ban from 4am October 31,” Army Commander Gen Shavendra Silva told reporters on Friday.
Silva, who heads the national COVID-19 task force, said all public transportation services will also restart on October 25 and will operate according to health guidelines.
Health officials have joined the chorus of voices lamenting the apparent lax nature of the inter-provincial travel ban. The public does not seem to follow health guidelines increasing the risk of another wave of the epidemic, they have said.
“The behaviour of the public is not satisfactory,” Health Promotion Bureau Director Dr Ranjith Batuwanthudawa told the privately owned Derana network in an interview.
“The public did not follow the guidelines in the first long weekend after restrictions were relaxed. It can again increase the number of patients to a level the health sector cannot cope with,” he warned.
Meanwhile, Gen Silva said the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be administered as a booster dose for frontline workers in the health, military, police and tourism sectors starting November 01.
The Ministry of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development has recommended the establishment of Sri Lankan Standards, i.e. the import testing methodology for imported tires used for passenger cars and pneumatic tires for three-wheelers with the aim of ensuring a fair competitive environment for local
manufactures and ensuring consumer safety and security.
Taking into the said recommendations, “Import and Export (control regulations N0.08 of the 2026)” has been enacted to amend the existing regulations by means of the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2508/27 dated 2026-10-01, prescribing Sri Lanka standard 1212 for the import of passenger types (HS Code 4011.10.90) and Sri Lanka standard 1347 for the import of
pneumatic tires for three – wheeled vehicles (HS Code 4011.90.10).
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development to submit the aforementioned regulations to Parliament for approval.
Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 02.06.2025 to introduce a new act to promote and providing legal provisions for facilitating the Public Private Joint Enterprises within Sri Lanka as well as the establishment of the National Agency for Public Private Partnership Joint Enterprises.
Accordingly, the Legal Draftsman has formulated the relevant draft bill and the Attorney General has given his clearance to the said draft bill.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to publish the said
draft bill in the government gazette notification and thereby submit it to the Parliament for its concurrence.
Regulation, development and control of indigenous medical sector in Sri Lanka comprised of Ayurvedha, Sidhdha, Unani, Local Therapies are carried out under the provisions of Ayurvedha Act No. 31 of 1961.
Although amendments were made to the act from time to time as per the requirements, the necessity of further amending the Ayurvedha Act has been identified to enable efficiently maintaining all activities of local medical field productively, further formalizing the regulation of the sector, taking actions to providing licenses applicable to export of local medicines, and achieving the progress and sustainable development goals in the local medical sector.
Based on the said factors, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Health and Mass Media to direct the Legal Draftsman to formulate a draft bill to amend the Ayurvedha Act No. 31 of 1961.
Import and Export (Control) Regulations No. 08 of 2026
Draft Bill of the Public Private Partnership Enterprises Act to be gazzetted
Amendment of the Ayurvedha Act No. 31 of 1961
Cabinet nod to amend the Sri Lanka Development Administration Institute Act No. 9 of 1982
Establishment of the National Higher Performance Centre
State patronage for the cremation ceremony of the late deputy prelate (Anu Nayaka Thero) of the Sri Laka Ramangya Maha Nikaya, Gatambe Rajopawanramadhipatha, Siri Chandawimala Wanshalankara, Chandrakeerthi Sri Amarawansha, Sadhdharmawageeshwara, Shasanashobhanna Most Venerable Keppetiyagoda Siriwimalabhidhana Thero
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