Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday vowed to balance diplomatic ties between China and India – the two Asian giants competing for strategic influence in the Indian Ocean – while defending controversial Chinese infrastructure projects.

Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Mujibur Rahman has tested positive for COVID-19.

UNICEF, with the support of Australia, has procured and delivered a consignment of urgently needed oxygen concentrators and other vital equipment to the Ministry of Health in support of Sri Lanka’s ongoing response to Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The GMOA said they had received confidential information to the effect that the public had been forced to purchase the second dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine at a cost of Rs 5,000.

Former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka  told Parliament yesterday that he was thankful to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for their blessings to win the war against the LTTE in 2009 in their then capacities as the President and Defence Secretary respectively.

Five Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions in Batticoloa have been isolated from this morning with immediate effect, Head of the National Operations Center for Prevention of COVID-19, Army Commander General Shavendra Silva said.

The COVID-19 death toll in Sri Lanka climbed to 1,051 with 36 more deaths being confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services today (19), the Government Information Department said.

All passenger arrivals into SriLanka will be suspended from 11.59 p.m. on May 21 to 11.59 p.m. on May 31, the Chairman of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.

Former Western Province Governor Azath Salley who is under CID detention, admitted to the National Hospital in Colombo yesterday following a heart attack.

The Japanese government says it will impose stricter border regulations for those traveling from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives to prevent a more contagious coronavirus variant that was first found in India from spreading.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa criticised the government for not taking swift measures to minimise the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

The COVID-19 situation in the Western Province had turned critical and over 600 COVID-19 patients were likely die in the month of May, Dr. Prasad Kolabage, General Committee Member of the GMOA said yesterday.

Pledging the country will always come first, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday (18) said in Parliament that the victory secured by sacrificing thousands of lives would not be betrayed under any circumstance.

The COVID-19 death toll in Sri Lanka climbed to 1,015 with 34 more deaths being confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services today (18), the Government Information Department said.

The Defence Ministry was shifted to the newly constructed Defence Headquarters Complex in Sri Jayawardenepura, Kotte today (May 18).

The Supreme Court has determined that certain clauses of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill are inconsistent with the Constitution of Sri Lanka.