Asia Today: Sri Lanka reimposing full curfew amid resurgence

Sri Lanka's government is reimposing a 24-hour curfew across the Indian Ocean island nation Thursday after a recent resurgence of coronavirus cases.

Sri Lanka has had 630 COVID-19 patients including seven deaths. Of the total, 308 cases were reported after April 22 and many of them are navy sailors or their close contacts.

The virus is believed to have entered a navy camp after sailors were deployed to search for a group of drug-addicted people who had contact with a COVID-19 patient and were evading quarantine. Authorities have isolated the camp and taken steps to quarantine about 4,000 troops there after infections rose.

The blanket curfew resumes at 8 p.m. It was originally imposed March 20 but had been eased in recent days for about two-thirds of the country. The easing of the curfew had allowed movement by people in districts where the spread of the virus had been low. The capital, Colombo, is among the districts considered high-risk and its 24-hour curfew was never eased.

Police strictly enforce the curfew and have arrested more than 41,000 violators since last month.

In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:

— CASES DECLINE IN CHINA: China on Thursday reported no new deaths from coronavirus and four new cases, all brought from outside the country. China has been testing and quarantining arrivals from abroad, who have accounted for many of its recent cases. The National Health Commission said 619 people remain hospitalized with COVID-19. China has reported 4,633 deaths from the virus among 82,862 cases.