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Sri Lanka President declares curfew amid coronavirus outbreak

Sri Lanka President declares curfew amid coronavirus outbreak

Sri Lanka coronavirus

In the wake of rapidly spreading coronavirus, Sri Lankan President declared island-wide curfew in the country under the preventive measures. The curfew is declared from 6 pm today (March 20) till 6 am of March 23.

Sri Lanka has 53 cases of the virus. Earlier, the country closed its international airports and placed Puttalam, Chilaw and Negombo police divisions and Ja-Ela and Wattala areas under the police curfew.

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During the curfew, only public transport and essential services are permitted to pass through the affected areas.

On Thursday, the country also postponed its parliamentary elections until further orders.

"Even if the WHO says Sri Lanka is free of this virus tomorrow, we will not be able to conduct the election on April 25," election chief Mahinda Deshapriya said.

"Whether we can have the vote in May, June or July will depend on how quickly the virus can be tackled."

Globally, there are almost 219,000 reported cases of coronavirus and over 8,900 deaths.