Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the adverse weather conditions in Sri Lanka rose to 25 on Thursday while over 200,000 people had been affected, the country's Disaster Management Center (DMC) said in its latest update.

According to official figures, one person was reported missing and seven people were injured as heavy rains and strong winds lashed out across the country since last weekend.

Twenty-three houses were fully damaged while 1,253 were partially damaged, the DMC said.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka lifted a six-week lockdown Friday as COVID-19 cases and deaths decline but will restrict people’s movement for work and obtaining essentials only — which are running short in the island country amid economic worries.

The lockdown was imposed Aug. 20 and extended three times as Sri Lanka grappled with a COVID-19 surge caused by the delta variant. The government has ramped up vaccination in recent months, with more than 50% of the 22 million people fully inoculated.

COLOMBO, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said tourism promotion initiatives with Russia and Ukraine have been launched to uplift the country's tourism industry, as the government aimed to revive the sector which was severely hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, local media reported here Monday.

Ranatunga told local journalists that Russia and Ukraine were among the top 10 countries with the highest number of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in recent years.

Colombo, Aug 21 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has warned of the consequences the public will need to face if a longer lockdown is enforced as he ordered a 10-day nationwide shutdown to combat the spike in coronavirus cases.

In a televised address to the nation on Friday, Rajapaksa said he agreed to enforce a brief lockdown from 10 pm till 4 am on August 30, however, if a longer shutdown is enforced in future then the public will need to be prepared to make sacrifices.

COLOMBO, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan authorities have made it mandatory for citizens above the age of 30 years old to carry their vaccination cards when they visit public places from Sept. 15 in a bid to curb the rising spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Army Commander and Head of the National Operations Center for Prevention of COVID-19 General Shavendra Silva said here Friday.

COLOMBO, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has received over 10 million COVID-19 vaccines so far, State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Channa Jayasumana was quoted by local media as saying on Wednesday.

"Among the total number of vaccines, over 3.3 million were received as donations while the government had to procure over 6.8 million of them," Jayasumana said.

According to the latest data by the Epidemiology Unit, the total number of vaccinated people in Sri Lanka has surpassed 7 million people.

COLOMBO, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Health Ministry on Sunday received 2 million doses of Sinopharm vaccines from China, leading to a total of 7.1 million Sinopharm doses arriving in the country since March.

The vaccines arrived onboard two Sri Lankan Airlines flights which arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport early Sunday morning.

COLOMBO, July 8 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday appointed his younger brother Basil Rajapaksa as finance minister, in a move that further tightened the family's grip over the island nation.

Basil took over as minister of finance from Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, also his older brother. Mahinda was also given an additional role as minister of economic policies and plan implementation, according to presidential media division.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — About 150 death row inmates were on a hunger strike Friday to demand their sentences be commuted after Sri Lanka’s president pardoned a former lawmaker who had been condemned for an election-related killing.

Several inmates protested on the roof of a prison in the capital, Colombo, holding up banners demanding equal treatment and bail consideration. “Grant pardon to us like you did to terrorists and notorious politicians,” one banner said in local script.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The U.N. representative in Sri Lanka said the sinking of a container ship that caught fire while transporting chemicals off the capital Colombo has caused “a significant damage to the planet” by releasing hazardous substances into the ecosystem.

The Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl sank off on Thursday a month after catching fire, raising concerns about a possible environmental disaster.