Sri Lanka further relaxes COVID-19 curfew

Sri Lanka on Saturday announced further relaxation of the curfew, imposed as part of the COVID-19 lockdown, from next week.

Sri Lanka has so far recorded 1,880 coronavirus cases, 11 deaths due to the disease and 1,196 recoveries.

The COVID-19 curfew, currently in force from 11 pm to 4 am daily, will be relaxed and enforced for only four hours from midnight to 4 am daily from June 14 onwards, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office said.

Sri Lanka has been under a continuous lockdown since March 20, a week after the first local victim of the pandemic was reported. Initially, a nationwide blanket curfew was imposed but it was later eased for about two-thirds of the country.

The government had ordered partial opening of offices and businesses mid-May. From early June, the restrictions were further relaxed with public transport being allowed.

The lockdown relaxations were mostly due to the need to hold the election for a new Parliament.

Sri Lanka's twice-postponed parliamentary polls will be held on August 5.

President Rajapaksa on March 2 dissolved the Parliament, six months ahead of schedule, and called for snap polls on April 25. However, the election commission in mid-April postponed the elections by nearly two months to June 20 due to the coronavirus outbreak in the island nation.

The commission last month informed the apex court that the polls cannot be held on June 20 because of the raging coronavirus pandemic. The new date, announced on Wednesday, was decided following a unanimous decision reached between the members of the election commission.

Meanwhile, the government plans to resume operation of international airports from August 1.

Religious places have been allowed to re-open for services. All zoological gardens and national parks would be reopened from June 15.

According to health authorities, since April 30 no new COVID-19 case from the community has been detected. All the patients tested positive for the coronavirus from April 30 onwards were either those who were in the quarantine centres, Navy personnel or their close contacts.

(Image credit: AP)