Ensuring the safety of all Sri Lankans is more important that holding elections, former UNP MP Arjuna Ranatunga told a news conference yesterday and said the government should think of preventing the spread of the coronavirus rather than thinking of politics and elections.

Former Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha De Silva, yesterday, (13), said that he would contest the forthcoming parliamentary polls under the leadership of UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa.

Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe confirms that three more patients who had contracted the Coronavirus (COVID-19) have been identified in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has extended the travel ban to a total of 11 countries, adding eight more countries to the list.

Former minister Ravi Karunanayake, against whom an arrest warrant had been issued, has appeared before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, a short while ago.

All universities will be closed for two weeks from tomorrow due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, University Grants Commission Chairman Sampath Amaratunge said today.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) informed all airlines not to carry passengers to Sri Lanka from Italy, South Korea and Iran with effect from tomorow.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa requested the heads of research organizations to find ways and means to uplift a small country like Sri Lanka with a comparatively small population and an economy.

If the government doesn’t respond positively to his demands including the ban on madrasas within 24 hours, a new coalition would be built to challenge the government, Chairman of the Jathika Vijaya Darani Jathika Sabha, former MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana thera yesterday said.

A second person in Sri Lanka, 44 year old man has tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total number of presumptive coronavirus cases in the country to two.

Minister of Education Dullas Alahapperuma says all schools in the country will be closed until the 20th of April owing to the threat of the novel Coronavirus.

All school educational trips have been temporarily suspended due to Coronavirus threat in the country, the Education Ministry said.

The Police Media Unit issuing a statement noted that false reports claiming that several Coronavirus infected persons had been reported from various parts of the country.

Saudi Arabia has temporarily stopped all travel to and from Sri Lanka and almost all of Europe and 12 more countries in Asia and Africa, as the number of coronavirus cases in the Kingdom jumped to 45.

Commander of Sri Lanka Army, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva says that the army is carrying out a humanitarian mission at present with the ongoing quarantine process as coronavirus fears are spreading in the country.