Over 1,200 people have been placed under a 14-day quarantine in Sri Lanka for failing to wear face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The virus infected over 2,000 people in the country, the police said on Monday.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ajith Rohana said that 1,217 people were arrested from the Western province for failing to wear masks in public places over the weekend.
Recently, Rohana said those who fail to wear face masks in public places will be penalised and legal action will be taken for violating health guidelines.
“While the virus had been contained in Sri Lanka, the threat from it remained,’’ he said.
Sri Lanka has detected 2,037 positive patients, out of which 1,678 patients have recovered and been discharged, while 11 deaths have been reported.
On Sunday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office announced that a night curfew which was imposed from midnight to 4 a.m. was lifted completely due to the containment of the COVID-19 outbreak.
President Rajapaksa said in a statement on his official Twitter account that with zero community spread of COVID-19 for over two months, it had been decided to remove the night curfew completely.
However, he urged people to follow the health guidelines by wearing face masks in public, and maintaining social distancing and hand hygiene.
“Be responsible, be safe and keep others safe,’’ the president said. (Xinhua/NAN)
