COLOMBO – Daily Express photographer J. Sujeewakumar does a walkabout in Colombo with his camera, capturing a city coming back to a ‘new normal’ life with more vigilance, temperature checks and check points, after a 10-day lockdown amidst a surge in novel coronavirus confirmations and fatalities.
The quarantine curfew imposed in the Western Province was lifted at 5:00 a.m. Monday (9), with 22 areas, in the Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts placed under isolation until further notice.
A statement from the Government Department of Information on Sunday (8), announcing the relaxing of the quarantine curfew, said several apartment complexes in Central Colombo identified as high risk areas for the spread of COVID-19 have also been placed under isolation with the residents asked to strictly stay indoors and avoid any interactions, even with their neighbours.
The statement, while also announcing that several areas in the Kegalle and Kurunegala districts in the North Western and Sabaragamuwa Provinces have been placed under isolation, attributed the isolation to the high incidence of virus spread detected in all three provinces and increasing fatalities.
Sri Lanka on Sunday (8) recorded its 35th COVID-19 related death. Twenty deaths have now been officially recorded since October 24, following the emergence of a new and more virulent strain of the virus in a new cluster in Minuwangoda, with the apparel factory in the area as the epicentre earlier in the month. Since then the cluster has seen sub-clusters in several parts of the country, with the largest case load reported from the Peliyagoda fish market. As of Sunday, the Minuwangoda cluster had recorded 10,447 cases with 510 testing positive for the virus during the course of the day. Sunday’s confirmations took Sri Lanka’s novel coronavirus count to 13,928, with 8285 being deemed recovered and discharged under the new health ministry guidelines that don’t require multiple PCR tests, and 5,609 receiving treatment at various designated hospitals across the country.
Check points and traffic blocks
Long distance bus services resume
It’s not just another day at the Narahenpita Economic Centre
A reminder of how empty Colombo was
-ENCL