No lockdowns, says Army Chief

By Rathindra Kuruwita

There is no decision to impose lockdowns, Army Commander Gen Shavendra Silva says.

The government had enforced inter-provincial travel restrictions from yesterday, he said. Only essential and health workers would be allowed to cross provincial borders, he said.

General Silva said that the COVID-19 task force had also decided to reduce the number of attendees at a wedding to 50 guests from 150. The Health Ministry would release a set of new health guidelines and restrictions.

Public Health Inspectors’ (PHI) Union President Upul Rohana told The Island that the number of COVID cases and deaths would rise sharply in the coming two weeks, no matter what the government was doing now.

PHIs were overworked just as the rest of the health workers and even a number of midwives had died, Rohana said.

The PHIs union President said all gatherings, including protests, should be suspended while inter-district and inter-provincial movement stopped.

“Both the public and private sector must only bring people that are essential to run their operations. However, we see that almost everyone is back at work. More and more people are dying, but the gravity of the situation is still not felt by some people,” he said.