By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ANKARA (AA) – Sri Lanka on Tuesday announced three-day holiday in a bid to repress the spread of new coronavirus pandemic.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in a statement on Twitter that the move aims at minimizing the physical interactions among the public.
“Governmet has declared a 3-day holiday till 19/3 [March 19] to minimize public interactions in curbing spread of #COVID2019. This is applicable to all public and private entities except essential services. Please support the effort by staying home & practice social distancing,” Rajapaksa said.
However, the Sri Lankan government has kept many public offices, including the election commission, open, daily Sunday Times reported.
Courts were told to take up only emergency cases while prisons department has halted public visit, president said in another tweet.
The virus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19, was first reported in Wuhan, China last December.
It has thus far spread to some 150 countries and territories resulting in death of more than 7,000 people amid over 182,000 people infected, according to data by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.
Sri Lanka has reported 28 cases of COVID-19, with one person having recovered.
The island nation is going to general elections on April 25 and the election commission has extended last date for nomination of candidates until coming Thursday.
