No countrywide lockdown over the weekend as yet - Army Chief

Army Chief Lt. General Shavendra Silva yesterday said that they do not intend to impose a countrywide curfew or a lockdown in Colombo city over the weekend, as they did not see any threat to any other areas other than the identified areas as of yesterday.

"We do not intend to impose a curfew in Colombo or any other place other than the identified areas unless there is a massive number coming up from that area, which we do not foresee as of now," Silva told the Daily Mirror last night.

However, he said authorities continue to closely monitor the situation and they urged people not to panic. "However, we request people to be cautious and not relax because as of today, we do not know the extent of how far this has spread. We are doing the contact-tracing," Lt. Gen. Silva said.(JAMILA HUSAIN)