Courtesy Scroll.in The prime minister said ‘prepare but do not panic’ was India’s motto as it tackled the virus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the video conference of SAARC nations to tackle coronavirus on Sunday. | BJP/Twitter Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday proposed to set up a COVID-19 emergency fund for South Asian Association for […]

Courtesy BBC Sri Lanka has closed its border to travellers from the UK, affecting England fans who were still planning to visit the country despite the postponement of the two-Test series. Even though Joe Root’s side arrived home on Sunday, a number of supporters intended to go ahead with holidays. However, people from the UK, […]

Courtesy TTG Media The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice to advise against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka. The move effectively places the popular holiday hotspot off limits to British tourists. The FCO made the announcement shortly after midday on Sunday (15 March), citing a decision by the Sri Lankan government to […]

Courtesy ANI New Delhi, Mar 15(ANI): While attending a video conference of all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries amid Coronavirus scare, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, Our economy has taken serious blow, particularly tourism sector which was just recovering after last years’ terrorist attack. I strongly recommend SAARC leaders to […]

MANO RATWATTE, USA Courtesy The Island March 15, 2020, 8:50 pm Your Sunday paper headlines speak of panic buying in Sri Lanka because of the Coronavirus.  I can assure you it is no different in the US right now.  Almost all major Walmart and Target type super stores are out of toilet paper and all […]

by Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, yesterday, said the general election would be held on 25 April, as scheduled. He said so, participating in a video conference of SAARC leaders on Sunday evening. Pakistan was represented by the Health Minister of that country. The SAARC leaders’ video conference was aimed at chalking […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Health Ministry dispelled rumors that Colombo city or any other province will come under lockdown following a rise in the number of COVID-19 patients but added that preventive measures were being updated on a daily basis.“As of now, there is no truth to Colombo being locked down. However our medical […]

Courtesy Adaderana President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (15) proposed to leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to formulate a collective response to combat COVID – 19. He further called for SAARC Ministerial Meeting to discuss measures to overcome this deadly health threat. President Rajapaksa made these proposals participating in a video conference […]

Courtesy Adaderana Individuals who conceal the fact that they have contracted COVID-19 will be sentenced to six months in prison, stated the Police. DIG Ajith Rohana mentioned this at a special press conference held earlier this afternoon (15). He added that steps will be take enabling arrest of such individuals without a warrant. Further, the […]

Courtesy Adaderana The government has introduced a hotline (117) for the public to seek or provide information on the novel coronavirus or COVID-19. The hotline will be active from 8 pm tonight (15), stated the Department of Government Information.

Courtesy Adaderana All flights to Sri Lanka from the United Kingdom, Norway and Belgium have been suspended from tomorrow (16). The relevant travel restriction will be in effect for 2 weeks, stated the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). All airlines are strongly instructed not to board in any of their flights destined to […]

Courtesy Adaderana Steps will be taken to identify and quarantine those who had arrived in Sri Lanka from Italy and had not undergone a quarantine period, stated the Director-General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe. Persons who had arrived in the country from Italy between the 1st and 9th of March will be identified for […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත් ඩීල් කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා කළ ප්‍රකාශයක් පිළිබඳව හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී පාලිත රංගේබණ්ඩාර මහතා අද ප්‍රතිචාර දැක්වූවා. ඒ, සිරිකොත එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ මූලස්ථානයේ පැවති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදීයි. මේ අතර, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ශාන්ත අබේසේකර මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසක් සමගි ජන බලවේගයට සහය පළකිරීම සඳහා අද එක්වුණා. එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත් අද ‘‘හාඩ්ටෝක් විශේෂාංගය තුළින් සෘජුවම ප්‍රශ්න කෙරෙන්නේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ලක්ෂ්මන් කිරිඇල්ල මහතාගෙන්.

Dr D.Chandraratna Countless are the pieces written lamenting the madness at Diyawanna Oya in the past so many years. Editorials, opinion pages and features in this daily alone demanded a proactive approach to stem the declining standards of our Parliament.  There is no denying that if unchecked constitutional democracy becomes unworkable because the system rests […]

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM  Wellington , New Zealand The year under review literally began with a bang, a big bang that leftover three hundred dead and many more wounded. Yes, it was the Easter Day 2019 bombings. At a Sri Lankan gathering in Lower Hutt that evening a fellow Sri Lankan, a Sinhalese Buddhist if […]

nethnews කොරෝනා වෛරසය වැලදී ඇති බවට තහවුරුවූ කන්දකාඩු නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ සිටි පුද්ගලයින් දෙදෙනා ඉතාලියේ සිටියදීම පෙනඩෝල් වැනි ඖෂධ පානය කොට මෙරටට පැමිණ ඇති බව සෞඛ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂක ජනරාල් වෛද්‍ය අනිල් ජාසිංහ ප්‍රකාශ කරයි. ” මෙම පුද්ගලයින් දෙදෙනා මිලානෝ නුවර සිට ගුවන් ගතවෙන්න ඉඩ ලැබී නැති නිසා එතැන සිට වාහනයකින් සැතපුම් 800ක් ගොස් එහි සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia The daily increase has dropped to single digit, the Chinese government said. Beijing, March 15 (newsin.sia): According to the National Health Commission of China, on 11 March, Wuhan reported only 8 new confirmed cases, which means that the daily increase has dropped to single digit, the Chinese government said. In other places of […]

by C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island *  Why Parliamentary Elections Act of 1981 should be amended*  Merits of our 1946 Parliamentary Elections Order in Council March 14, 2020, 6:55 pm Parliament has now been dissolved and an election is now on even though the election campaign has not begun in earnest due to the Covid-19 threat. […]

Courtesy The Guardian (UK) What the statistics from the outbreak so far can tell us about infection and mortality rates The startling spread of the coronavirus across the globe is causing understandable alarm. But though it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions about how many deaths may occur, the statistics do point to […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Any Sri Lankan arriving in Colombo from any European country during the travel ban period, must either undergo the quarantine process or fly back to the country from where they departed, Airport and Aviation Services Vice Chairman Rajeewasiri Sooriyaarachchi told the Daily Mirror. He said the reasons that compelled them to […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror In view of the present circumstances of the rapid spread of COVID-19 globally, and in order to limit the spread of the virus among Sri Lankans who visit the Sri Lanka Missions overseas, the Ministry of Foreign Relations has decided to limit the provision of consular services in 11 Sri Lanka […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror On learning that one of the family members of an officer of the Foreign Ministry is diagnosed with COVID -19, the Ministry, upon seeking necessary medical advice, has taken a series of precautionary measures to avoid and minimize the risk of transmission of the virus and the officer concerned has been […]

Courtesy Adaderana Two more Coronavirus positive cases have been identified in Sri Lanka, says the Director General of Health Services. Dr. Anil Jasinghe stated that these two patients bring the total number of Coronavirus cases in the country to ten (10). One of them is a 56-year-old woman had returned from Italy on March 07. […]

Courtesy Adaderana All zoological gardens, botanical gardens, and national parks, which are under the purview of the Departments of National Zoological Gardens, Botanical Gardens, Wildlife Conservation, and Forest Conservation, are to be closed for two weeks. The Department of Government Information announced that this measure will be in effect from tomorrow (15). Accordingly, National Zoological […]

Courtesy Adaderana Archbishop of Colombo Diocese, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has requested all churches to refrain from conducting Sunday and other Masses till the end of March. Cardinal Ranjith stated this addressing a special media briefing at the Catholic Archbishop’s House this evening (14).

Courtesy Adaderana Permission will not be granted for mass gatherings for two weeks due to the risks of coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country, says the Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi. She made this announcement during a special media briefing at the Department of Government Information today (14). Minister Wanniarachchi stated that this decision was taken […]

Courtesy Adaderana Europe is now the epicentre” of the global coronavirus pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization says. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to use aggressive measures, community mobilisation and social distancing to save lives. Do not just let this fire burn,” he said. His comments came as several European countries reported […]

Courtesy Adaderana Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called on the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to fight the coronavirus threat jointly. This came minutes after India evacuated 44 citizens who from the Iranian city of Qom after the cancellation of flights due to coronavirus outbreak in that country. I would like to […]

Courtesy Adaderana All movie theatres under the purview of National Film Corporation have been requested to suspend screening of movies until further notice, says the Cultural Affairs Ministry. This decision was taken under directives of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, taking into consideration the prevailing health concerns due to the threat of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the […]