Quarantine curfew extended till 21 Sept.

Countrywide quarantine curfew, which was to be lifted on 16 September, has been extended by a week and will be lifted at 4 a.m. on 21 September. 

“The President instructed that a report be handed over to him on the restrictions to be enforced if the country is to be reopened after 21 September,” National Operations Centre for the Prevention of the COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Head Gen. Shavendra Silva said.

All economic centres will remain open during this time.

“With numbers steadily declining, we’re confident that [Sri Lanka] will once again be able to reopen without risk,” Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella tweeted, asking the public to use this time to get vaccinated and stay at home.

The decision was made at the COVID-19 Task Force meeting held yesterday, where the progress of the COVID-19 immunisation program was also discussed.

According to the President’s Media Division (PMD), 120,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for the second dose are expected to reach the island in the coming week. As of Thursday, 159,089 persons had received the first dose of Sputnik V but only 43,450 persons had received the second dose of the vaccine.

Focus was also drawn to the mobile vaccination program, with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructing health officials to continue this program so that vaccination will be accessible to persons over the age of 60 as well as persons with various medical conditions.

While the reopening of schools was discussed, a committee of experts from the health and education sectors has been tasked with preparing recommendations for the reopening of schools with less than a hundred students. There are over 3,000 such schools in rural areas, the PMD states.