State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, the Co-ordinating Officer to Attorney General Dappula de Livera will relinquish her duties with effect from May 24, 2021.

The government will impose travel restrictions between districts if the need arises.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has denied claims that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had influenced the decision by the global body to approve the emergency use of the Sinopharm vaccine.

Inter-Provincial Private Bus Service will be suspended until May 30 from tonight, National Transport Commission (NTC) Director General Nilan Miranda said.

Malaysia will be imposing a nationwide movement control order (MCO) beginning on Wednesday (May 12) until early next month to stem the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Monday.

Inter-provincial travel restrictions will be imposed from midnight today till May 30, Army Commander Gen. Shavendra Silva said.

Sri Lanka is awaiting the results of mix and match tests conducted by experts overseas, the Health Ministry said.

The health authorities are planning to increase the number of PCR tests to be conducted for a day to 30,000 from 24,000, an official said.

As Sri Lanka looks to expand the coronavirus vaccination programme, the United Nations (UN) has warned that vaccination is not a guarantee and that the B.1.617 variant spreading in India could breach vaccine protection.

Steps have been taken to isolate six more Grama Niladhari Divisions in Matara, Matale, Kandy and Puttalam Districts with immediate effect, Army Commander General Shavendra Silva said.

Twenty six COVID-19 related deaths were reported yesterday climbing the death toll to 827, the Government Information Department said.

Sri Lanka has taken the credit for the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine being approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A total of 20,710 Sri Lankans have been administered with the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine as of this evening.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has given appropriate instructions to impose travel restrictions among all provinces until May 30 in order to curb the rapidly spreading COVID-19, the President’s Media Division said.

Online education, which is currently being conducted for school children is not an alternative to classroom education, Education Minister G.L. Peiris said.

Sri Lanka has asked for two million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from China for mass roll out here, Sri Lankan ambassador in Beijing Dr. Palitha Kohona said today.

A decision has been taken to allocate the remaining balance of Rs. 1,360,922,969.24 of the COVID–19 (ITUKAMA) Healthcare and Social Security Fund to the COVID-19 vaccination drive, President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

An independent anti-corruption tribunal of the ICC on Monday cleared former Sri Lanka player Avishka Gunawardene of corruption charges, allowing him to resume participation in cricket-related activities with immediate effect.

A total of 1,581 more COVID-19 patients have been detected so far today increasing the number of patients reported in Sri Lanka to 127,487, the Government Information Department said.

Provinces will be sealed off this week after strict travel restrictions are to be imposed between the provinces to prevent a further spread of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus, Army Commander and Head of the National Operations Center for the Pre

The security forces in the Eastern Province (EP) have been advised to impose travel restrictions between districts in the Province as a step to curb the spread of COVID, Governor Anuradha Yahampath today said.

Sri Lanka said Monday it had secured a $500 million loan from South Korea, a month after a similar loan from China as the island faced a foreign exchange shortage amid a debt crisis.

Travel restrictions between provinces will likely be implemented over the next few days, Army Commander General Shavendra Silva said.

The United Arab Emirates will bar entry to non-UAE resident travellers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka starting on Wednesday to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, it said today.

More than 40 vaccination centres have been established in the Western Province to provide the first dose of China’s Sinopharm vaccine, health authorities said.

The Motor Traffic Department (DMT) has proposed to waive off all penalties for delays caused due to the closure of the department’s offices with immediate effect, (DMT) Commissioner-General Sumith Alahakoon said.

The Examinations Department today announced that they have decided to postpone all the institutional examinations, which were scheduled to be held in May this year, until further notice, The Examination Commissioner General said.

The opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) urged the government to postpone the debate on Port City Economic Commission Bill and to go for a complete lockdown.

Police in the Maldives say they have arrested the alleged ’’prime suspect’’ in the attempted assassination of the country’s former president.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said that the Indian team, sans the top players, will tour Sri Lanka in July for a limited overs bilateral series.