Sri Lankan Police said yesterday that over 46,000 people had been arrested from across the country for violating a curfew in several districts which has been in place since March 20.
In a statement, the police said 46,284 people have been arrested for loitering on the roads, gathering and consuming alcohol at public grounds, travelling by vehicle on the roads, keeping restaurants open, behaving in an unruly manner on the roads while intoxicated and engaging in trading, defying curfew rules.
More than 12,000 vehicles have also been seized since March 20 and all those arrested have been or will be produced before local courts in the
coming days.
Sri Lanka imposed a nationwide curfew on March 20, which was lifted in some districts due to a less threat of the spread of the virus.
In capital Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, in the outskirts and the central highlands of Kandy, the curfew has been imposed indefinitely since March 24, as these areas have been declared “high risk” areas from the coronavirus.
Of the 548 active coronavirus cases in Sri Lanka, 327 of them were Navy personnel and authorities have also quarantined 1,008 of their relatives, officials said yesterday.
The virus has killed eight people with 752 positive cases in the island nation.
Army chief General Shavendra Silva, who heads Sri Lanks’s Covid-19 prevention mechanism, yesterday said, “There were 33 new positive cases found at midnight (Monday), 31 of them are our gallant sailors who are linked to the Welisara camp. The two others are their
contacts.”
The Covid-19 infection is suspected to have spread in the Welisara Camp near capital Colombo when officers came in contact with drug addicts infected
by the virus during a raid.
The sailors had gone home on leave, spreading the virus
further.
Silva said 752 positive cases were reported in the country since its first positive case in mid-March, of which 194 patients had been discharged from hospitals after complete
recovery.
The army chief said 1,008 relatives of Navy sailors are
presently in quarantine.
The virus death rose to eight on Monday after a 72-year-old woman in northwestern Kurunegala region died of the
disease.
The woman was related to one of the infected sailors.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday spoke at an online summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a forum of around 120 developing countries.
Gotabaya said of all the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests only 3% gave positive results and that the virus’ mortality rate in Sri Lanka was less than 1%.
The president said he intends to ease restriction to revive economic activities, while enforcing health guidelines.
Stranded people walk in a public ground as they wait to board on a special bus organised by Sri Lanka police to travel back to their hometowns during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, in Mirihana, some 10km from Colombo yesterday.
