Sri Lanka announces 10-day lockdown

Sri Lanka announced a 10-day lockdown starting on Aug. 20 night to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as surging infections and deaths overwhelm the island’s health system, Report informs referring to Reuters.

The Indian Ocean nation recorded its highest single-day death toll of 187 and 3,793 cases on Aug. 18.

“Nationwide Lockdown in effect from 10 p.m. today (20/08) to Monday (30/08). All essential services will function as normal,” Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella tweeted.

Hospitals in the country of 32 million people are overflowing with COVID-19 patients as the highly transmissible Delta variant surges through the population.

Many restrictions are already in place, with schools, gyms, swimming pools closed and weddings and musical shows banned. Authorities also imposed a night curfew from Monday, restricting movement from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. every day.

Around a quarter of Sri Lanka’s population has been fully vaccinated, most of them with China’s Sinopharm vaccine.

Sri Lanka has also approved the Pfizer (PFE.N), Moderna (MRNA.O), AstraZeneca (AZN.L), and Russia’s Sputnik V shots.

It has reported a total of 372,079 infections since the start of the outbreak last year, with 6,604 deaths.