Sri Lanka announces 10-day nationwide quarantine curfew

A 10-day nationwide quarantine curfew will be imposed in Sri Lanka from Friday night in order to prevent a further spread of the COVID-19 virus, the country's Army Commander and Head of the National Operations Center for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak, General Shavendra Silva said on Friday,reported Xinhua.

Silva told Xinhua that the curfew will come into effect from 10:00 p.m. Friday local time and will be lifted at 4:00 a.m. local time on Aug. 30.

However, essential services such as those in agriculture, apparel, construction workers, and pharmacies can continue to operate, he said.

Silva said vaccination centers will remain open and priority will be given to those above 60 years old who are yet to be vaccinated.

"Mobile teams will operate during these 10 days and we will ensure that all those above 60 are vaccinated as a large number of deaths from the virus have been among this age group," Silva said.

Sri Lanka is facing a rapid rise in COVID-19 infections with 377,973 cases detected since March last year.

The current active patient count was over 47,000, statistics from the Health Ministry showed.

Altogether 6,790 deaths have been reported from the virus.

Health workers said the rise in infections in recent weeks was from the Delta variant with capital Colombo being the epicenter of the variant spread.

Hospitals have been filled with patients while crematoriums are also working round the clock to cremate the dead.

Health workers have warned that the situation may reach its peak in two weeks and have urged people to stay indoors as much as possible.