COVID-19: lockdown in Colombo lifted
Restrictions remain in place in some districts of the Western Province. The country has reported more than 14,000 cases and 36 deaths. Police in particular have been affected. For Bishop Asiri Perera, closing everything is not the solution, for people must live whilst respecting health rules.
Colombo (Asia News) – Th Sri Lankan government yesterday ended the COVID-19 lockdown in the capital and in some areas of the Western Province.
The country has reported more than 14,000 cases and 36 deaths so far. The police have been particularly affected with 460 police officers contracting COVID-19.
In areas still under lockdown, restrictions on government buildings mean that many employees are working from home.
Public transport and travel to and from restricted areas have been suspended; factory workers can move only if authorised by the authorities.
Dr Sudath Samaraweera, director of the Epidemiology Unit at the Ministry of Health, warned that the risk of infection has not yet been averted in the Colombo area, as the outbreak at the Peliyagoda fish market shows.
Bishop Asiri Perera, former president of Sri Lanka’s Methodist Church, also preaches caution. "The reopening of part of the country is good news, but we will have to be more careful than before,” he said speaking to AsiaNews.
In his view, the mistakes made after the first wave must not be repeated. However, shutting down everything is not the right response to the health threat.
"People must go out to work, earn their living,” he noted; at the same time, they must “keep in mind the health principles that we are called to follow” to protect the lives of others.
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12/08/2019 16:54
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