May 11 (CT) The world is now in the grip of the third wave of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. This is the same in Sri Lanka too. While the Govt is battling to safeguard its citizens against this debilitating illness, some unscrupulous elements are attempting to rip off unsuspecting people, who rush to get themselves tested, in fear that they had come into contact with the virus. At present, the laboratories of this country have the capacity to carry out 15,000 PCR tests daily. more..

May 11 (FT) Institute of Certified Management Accountants of SL (CMA) to celebrate the Earth Day 2021 will conduct a webinar on Environmental Management Accounting for Corporate Sustainability on Wednesday, 12 May, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. via online Zoom platform. The theme of Earth Day 2021 is Restore Our Earth. The climate change and coronavirus pandemic have reminded us of the harm we’ve caused. Thus, we must restore our earth not just because we care about natural world, more..

May 11 (TM) Investigators attached to the CID have not yet been able to obtain a Court order concerning the re-exhumation of the remains of the persons killed in the Sainthamaruthu blast on 26 April 2019. Court order would give the legal force to conduct DNA tests to determine whether Pulasthini Rajendran alias Sarah Jasmine, the wife of one of the Easter Sunday suicide bombers (involved in bombing St. Sebastian’s Church more..

May 11 (DM) Global business consulting and IT outsourcing company, Virtusa Corporation, which was founded in SL, will see its chief Kris Canekeratne pass on the leadership baton, ending a 25-year run with the company. Canekeratne, also one of the four co-founders, ends his stint with the company after successfully bringing the IT service provider to US$ 1.3 b in sales over the past quarter century. Canekeratne, who served as Chairman & CEO, will exit both the roles by June 30. more..

May 11 (TN) The United Arab Emirates will from Wednesday suspend the entry of all travellers, including transit passengers, from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka amid the COVID pandemic. The UAE, which is made up of seven emirates, has already suspended flights from India, as coronavirus cases in the country spiked to global records. The surge has spilled into Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Pakistan is also struggling to contain a third wave of infections. more..

May 11 (FT) As the third COVID-19 wave continues to sweep across Sri Lanka, CB Governor Prof W.D. Lakshman yesterday said growth projections for 2021 may need to be reassessed and the monetary institution was closely monitoring the evolving situation. Responding to questions during a webinar organised by the CB titled State of the SL Economy, Challenges and Outlook as reflected in the Annual Report 2020, more..

May 11 (TM) Insaaf Mohideen is a SL-born American serial entrepreneur, a Silicon Valley investor who has advised more than 100 startups. He is an expert of competitive arenas of technology and entrepreneurship. As he was in SL, we caught up with him in an exclusive interview. Mohideen spoke on SL’s startups, attracting foreign investors, its Ease of Doing Business Index ranking, the Port City Project, and the economic outlook, as well as a few other important topics with regard to SL. more..

May 11 (CT) All-rounders Dhananjaya Lakshan and Ishan Jayaratne who were included in the practice squad for the upcoming England Series, have tested positive for COVID-19. It is reported those found to be positive have been directed to follow the Govt’s health protocol on COVID-19, and all other players who were in touch with them have been asked to go into isolated quarantine. “Yes, two players were detected COVID-19 positive when they were subjected to PCR tests yesterday. more..

May 11 (FT) Govt issued a circular stipulating that all essential services should be carried out with minimal staff but in an uninterrupted manner and said any quarantined public officer would have their quarantine period covered as paid leave. Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Govt Ministry Secretary J.J. Rathnasiri issuing the circular, called on relevant officials to reduce staff to a minimum, from the earlier 50% allowed, more..

May 11 (DN) Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga emphasizes that the Govt’s main aim is to achieve the the people’s objectives and that the new Tourism Bill is being prepared in accordance with the views of those engaged in the tourism industry. Accordingly, a period of three months has been given to obtain the views of those working in the field regarding the preparation of the new Tourism Bill, the Minister said. He stated this at a discussion held at the Tourism Ministry yesterday with more..

May 11 (EN) SL plans to purchase 900,000 doses of the Pfizer-BionTech vaccine by July this year, with prices to be negotiated by a cabinet appointed committee. The committee has already been appointed, SPC Chairman Dr Prasanna Gunasena said. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is one of the two pioneering jabs the WHO approved for emergency use against COVID-19, the other being the Oxford-AstaZeneca vaccine, a version of which SL has been rolling out in limited doses. more..

May 11 (TM) The first Woman DIG of the SL Police Department Bimshani Jasin Arachchi, who was recently removed from her duties as the DIG in charge of the Police Ombudsman Range, has been promised an appointment as the DIG in charge of the Environment and Community Police. DIG Ajith Rohana said that IGP C.D. Wickramaratne had informed him of this after a meeting held with a few officials. more..

May 11 (DN) Police are conducting a special operation in Public transport to monitor adherence to COVID-19 rules and regulations since yesterday morning. DIG Ajith Rohana stated that public transport vehicles including buses, three-wheelers, and taxis will be monitored. He said that buses and trains can only transport passengers to the seating capacity. Three-wheelers and taxis can transport two passengers apart from the driver. Legal action will be taken against both drivers and assistants more..

May 11 (AD) Director General of Health Services confirmed another 26 deaths that occurred during the period from 3rd to 10th May, due to Covid-19 virus infection. Accordingly, total number of deaths due to Covid-19 infection in SL is 827 by now. The victims reported include a three-month-old infant from Waththegama, who had passed away due to Covid pneumonia and Multi-organ dysfunction, and a 36-year-old youth from Hettipola. The cause of death of the latter is mentioned as more..

May 11 (FT) SL’s daily COVID-19 cases exceeded 2,500 for a second straight day with health authorities stating that 2,573 persons linked to the New Year cluster tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda, Prisons and New Year clusters have a cumulative patient count of 122,446. This includes 82,785 patients linked to the Peliyagoda cluster, 29,057 patients linked to the New Near cluster, 4,972 patients linked to more..

May 11 (DN) A discussion was held under the Chairmanship of the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force Basil Rajapaksa, with the participation of the relevant Ministers, Secretaries to the Ministries and Heads of Departments on the setting up of a mechanism for the continuous and efficient distribution of essential services and consumer goods to the local public, at Temple Trees on May 09. According to the report prepared by the Additional Secretary to the PM Anton Perera more..

May 11 (DM) A total of 20,710 Sri Lankans have been administered with the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine as of this evening. A total of 17, 541 Sri Lankans were vaccinated today alone. Apart from Lankans, a total of 5,300 Chinese nationals have also be administered with the Sinopharm jab. Administering the Sinopharm vaccine to Sri Lankans commenced on May 08 following the approval granted by the NMRA on the same day for the emergency use of China’s Sinopharm more..

May 11 (CT) Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena raised concerns with the Canadian Envoy here to urge their Govt to immediately intervene and halt the Ontario Legislative Assembly (LA) from passing the Private Member Bill 104, on Tamil Genocide Education Week, on 6 May 2021, citing potential harm caused to the reconciliation process, peace building and the bilateral relations at large with Canada. more..

May 11 (EN) Sri Lanka is ramping up its Coronavirus vaccination drive and is expecting three million Sinopharm doses which was newly approved by the WHO authorities said as inter-provincial travel was curbed to battle a surge in Covid-19. Sri Lanka has already started a vaccination drive in the hard-hit and densely populated Western province using Russia’s Sputnik vaccine. “Negotiations held with the Chinese authorities to obtain three million doses of Sinopharm vaccine have been successful more..

May 11 (FT) The sudden rise in COVID-19 detections has been attributed to the clearance of a backlog of PCR samples in laboratories, but health authorities yesterday warned that this did not mean daily detections were dropping. Sri Lanka first recorded over 1,000 detections in a single day on 27 April with 1,111 detections, and on Sunday detected 2,672 COVID-19 patients within the day. However, daily detections between 28 April and 8 May have remained between 1,400 and 1,900. more..

May 11 (DM) 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 General Shavendra Silva said. President's Office in a statement said the travel restrictions will remain in place till May 30, but the date of when it will be implemented is yet to be announced. more..

May 11 (FT) The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe adverse effects on the SL economy, which had already encountered multiple economic setbacks even before the pandemic. These include low economic growth, fiscal and balance of payments deficits and excessive debt commitments. The lockdowns and mobility restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the pandemic have aggravated these economic problems. The economy contracted by 3.6% more..

May 11 (FT) By the time this article is penned, the number of COVID-19 infections in the world is reported to be 158 million with over 3.8 million deaths. However, it is so horrible that we know very little about the virus and no one knows the day the world can get rid of this pandemic. In the viewpoints of scientists, many assumptions made on the virus are nulled and new arguments arise day by day. Although scientists are struggling to find an effective vaccine to control the virus, more..

May 11 (DN) The proposed new educational reforms will pave the way for students to complete their university education early and become graduates in their early twenties, Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris said. He said those reforms are expected to be implemented in 2023. Necessary steps in this regard are being taken by the Education Ministry along with the other stakeholders including the Commissioner General of Examinations, he added. When the new reforms are in effect, more..

May 11 (DM) Sri Lanka is awaiting the results of mix and match tests conducted by experts overseas. Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry said that SL will take a decision on using two different vaccine brands for the first and second jab once the results are obtained. A spokesperson at the Epidemiology Unit said that mixing and matching of vaccines is being practiced in some countries. Spokesperson said that in other countries research is being carried out on mixing 2 different brands of vaccines. more..

May 11 (EN) Patients are in waiting list for intensive care and non-Covid-19 patients are dying, a breakdown of the health system is imminent unless action is taken to halt the spread, Sri Lanka Medical Association has warned. The current Coronavirus variant is spreading too fast despite lockdowns of smaller areas. A team from the SLMA had met Prez Rajapaksa on May 10 and asked for district or province wide lockdowns more..

May 11 (DN) SriLankan Cares, the CSR arm of SriLankan Airlines, fulfilling an acute need of the hour due to the prevailing pandemic, donated a batch of ventilators to the National Hospital, Colombo, recently. When the country witnesses a surge in the numbers of COVID-19 patients, as the main and final referral center of the island, the National Hospital is faced with the challenge of having sufficient resources in place to provide medical care for incoming patients. more..

May 11 (DN) Leave of police personnel will be cancelled from midnight today until the 31st of May, says DIG Ajith Rohana. The announcement came during a special media briefing held this evening to brief the public of the interprovincial travel restrictions expected to be imposed from midnight today. These constraints will be in effect until the 30th of May. He said, all police officers who are residing in areas that are not under a state of isolation must to report to work. more..

May 11 (Island) Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co. Ltd, the maker of Sinopharm vaccine responded to questions posed by the Expert Committee appointed, on March 17, to make recommendations for importing the Covid-19 vaccine to SL, by April, but the Committee had been presented with requested answers only on 06 May, a day before the WHO approved the use of the vaccine, AMS Prez Dr. Lakkumar Fernando more..

May 11 (SLE) Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha attended the inauguration ceremony of Admiral John Aquilino as the Commander of the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), presided over by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, last weekend. During his official visit to Hawaii, Ambassador Aryasinha also visited the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS). He was received by DKI APCSS Director Pete Gumataota and addressed more..

May 11 (EN) Cabinet of ministers has cleared a proposal to borrow 200 million US dollars from the Asian Development Bank as part of a project to upgrade rural roads in Eastern, Northern, Uva and Western provinces. It is the tranche of a US$ 900 million project to upgrade 3,400 km of rural roads and 340 kilometres of national roads connected to economic centres in the provinces. The US$ 900 million Second Integrated Road Investment Program is expected to be completed by Mar 31,2027. more..

May 11 (DM) The WHO has denied claims that Prez Rajapaksa had influenced the decision by the global body to approve the emergency use of the Sinopharm vaccine. In response to a question, the WHO said that the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of the WHO process usually takes two to three months to complete, depending on the quality and availability of the data submitted by the vaccine developers, among other factors more..

May 11 (DM) Railways Department has assigned adequate train service while suspending the long distance run and continue with the inter- regional operations as usual, Deputy General Manager of the Railway Dept V.S Polwattage said. He said that plans being drawn to operate trains within Western Province tomorrrow. Accordingly, trains will run up to Aluthgama on the coastal line, up to Kochchikade on the Puttalam line, up to Ambeussa on the mainline and up to Avissawella on Kelani Valley line more..

May 11 (DN) Court of Appeal has issued an order in the nature of writ of Certiorari quashing the rule relating completion of the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) MBBS Degree within 10 years contained in the Handbooks of three state universities. CA Justice Nissanka Karunarathne and Justice R. Gurusinghe made this order after delivering the judgment in respect of three writ petitions filed by eleven students who had registered themselves to follow MBBS Degrees at more..

May 11 (EN) The GMOA has written to the Washington-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) seeking clarification on its alarming projections for SL’s COVID-19 deaths. The GMOA has questioned the basis on which the IHME had arrived at its speculation, Minister Udaya Gammanpila said this morning (11). IHME, an idependent global health research centre at the University of Washington, had predicted more..

May 11 (SLN) In support of the acceleration of govt's COVID 19 vaccination campaign, with a view to mitigate the outbreak of Coronavirus, SL Navy in coordination with health authorities began administering the Sinopharm vaccine to govt and private sector employees engaged in essential services, at two locations in the Gampaha District today. On the instructions of Prez, inoculating of citizens with COVID-19 vaccine is being carried out as an expeditious programme. more..

May 11 (DM) Following the announcement by the Govt to impose Inter-provincial travel restrictions, the SLTB opted to limit its services from midnight yesterday, SLTB Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said. Speaking to the media he said though the services were limited, the transport facility would be provided to continue with the essential services such as to commute Govt, private and semi-state sector workers to their day-to-day routines. "It is relevant to limit the long-distance services which more..

May 11 (TM) In order to make a better society, the govt has focused on stopping the importation of narcotics, reducing the demand for narcotics and rehabilitating drug addicts. A discussion prioritizing the above has been held with the presence of Minister of Youth and Sports, Namal Rajapaksa, Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera, State Minister Dilum Amunugama, and many other officials related to this field. The main focus of this discussion was on rehabilitating drug addicts more..