22 April 2020 12:03 am
By Sandun A. Jayasekera
While the curfew remained unchanged round the clock in the Districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam it had been relaxed for 15 hours in 21 other districts yesterday and the government decided to close down all liquor shops across the country until further notice.
The government on Monday lifted the curfew in 21 districts for 15 hours from 5.00 am to 8.00 pm excluding the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam identified as high risk districts.
Curfew in these four districts will be in force until 5.00 am on Monday, April 27th.
Accordingly, the ongoing curfew in all the other 18 districts will be effective from 8.00 pm to 5.00 am till Friday, April 24th. In these areas, curfew will be re-imposed at 8.00 pm on Friday, 24th April and continue until 5.00 am on Monday, 27th April.
In these districts, the curfew will continue to be in force during the weekend, April 25th and 26th. Travelling to and from the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam is completely prohibited for all.
Conditions and guidelines announced earlier on the continuation of essential services and agricultural activities will remain unchanged, the Presidential Media Division (PMD) further said.
The irresponsible behaviour of a large number of people after the curfew was relaxed on Monday was highlighted by the print and electronic media yesterday with pictures and video clips showing how people had converged to liquor shops, taverns and bars in large numbers ignoring health and security warnings.