May 17 (ST) The govt appears to be caught in a deadly vortex as the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic surge that has now swallowed the entire country rang more alarm bells. Paradoxical enough, it should have been triggered by the country�s doctors who are among the first front-liners in fighting with the pandemic. Instead, that it was headed in a worrying trajectory emerged by chance from them. It aired from within the four walls more..

May 17 (AD) SL�s COVID-19 death toll saw an uptick today (16) as the Director-General of Health Services confirmed 21 more victims. As per official data, new fatalities have moved the total to 962. The deaths were reported from Anuradhapura, Motaruwa, Mirigama, Nebada, Badulla, Bulathsinhala, Imaduwa, Muruthgahamula, Ingiriya, Gelioya, Jaffna, Handapangoda, Habaraduwa, Emibilipitiya, Nakiyadeniya, Galle, Kadawatha, Mahaiyawa, Hali-Ela & Kalutara South areas. more..

May 17 (FT) The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) yesterday received the green light from Health Services and the Police to allow tourists to move between provinces in a bio-bubble setting. The move follows after the Govt imposed travel restrictions on people�s movement last week within provinces, as part of COVID-19 mitigation efforts. �We received a number of complaints from tourists on difficulties during their inter-provincial travel. Police officers at several checkpoints more..

May 17 (Island) In what many thought was a shocking decision, the Tourism Ministry yesterday declared that tourists would be able to travel across the country despite movement restrictions in force since last Thursday (14) to control the rapid spread of Covid-19. Tourism Ministry, in a statement issued yesterday afternoon (16) quoted Director General of SL Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Dhammika Wijesinhe as having said more..

May 17 (FT) The financial system has been the livewire of any economy. That is because it provides a range of useful services to keep the economy alive. The most important of these services cover helping an economy to produce goods and services, exchanging them, expanding their production capacity, storing savings of those who consume less than their earnings, and making available such savings to those who spend more than they earn. In the process, it mitigates the risks and more..

May 17 (DM) Chrissworld Limited will be listed on the Empower Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) with effect from May 18 2021. The company will be listing 30,000,000 ordinary voting shares and will be classified under Industrials sector. The listing of Chrissworld Limited is followed after a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) held on April 27, 2021. The IPO was oversubscribed on the first day and raised Rs.56.25 million. Commenting on the listing, CEO of CSE Rajeeva more..

May 17 (AD) A female Development Officer of the Kesbewa Divisional Secretariat has been assaulted while on duty last evening. The Development Officer serving the Delthara West GN Division had been returning home after distributing the Rs 5,000 dry ration parcels to an isolated area when the incident had occurred. It has been revealed that the attack had been carried out by a person who arrived on a motorcycle, DIG Ajith Rohana said. Investigations are underway to arrest the perpetrator. more..

May 17 (DN) State Minister Dr. Sudharshini Fernandopulle stated that the govt was determined to vaccinate all of the targeted population. �We are making all necessary arrangements to purchase COVID-19 vaccines from wherever in the world. We also have a shortage of 600,000 AstraZeneca jabs and requests have been made from the private sector to find 10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine since it is the most suitable vaccine for people above 60,� she said. more..

May 17 (EN) Chairman of the state-run Laksala and Saluasala Sri Lanka Pradeep Gunawardena passed away due to COVID-19 on May 17, Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara said. Gunawardena was receiving treatment at the Sir John Kotelawala Defence University hospital at the time of death. Gunewardena was also CEO of the SLFP and party organiser for the Maharagama electorate, Jayasekara said in a tweet today. more..

May 17 (AD) A total of thirty-seven Grama Niladhari divisions in seven districts have been released from isolation with immediate effect, the Army Commander General Shavendra Silva said. The isolation status in the following areas have been lifted: Trincomalee District: Uppuweli Police Area: Andakulam GN Subadralankara Road, Chinabay Police Area Kawattikudha GN Lucky Wijerathna Road. Kalutara District: Dodangoda Police Area: Bombuwala North West. more..

May 17 (EN) No Indian passenger has disembarked at the BIA since Sri Lanka imposed a COVID-19 travel ban on India on May 06 and only cargo flights have landed at the airport ever since, an aviation official said. All regulations and restrictions are being strictly upheld, Shehan Sumanasekara, Director Operations, Airport and Aviation Services (SL) told EconomyNext on May 17. Sumanasekara was responding to reports that several flights from India have landed at BIA over the past few days. more..

May 17 (FT) A certain lack of transparency by SLC Management Committee has led to a temporary standstill on negotiations on the new player contracts drawn up in consultation with the Cricket Advisory Committee headed by Aravinda de Silva. Principally the players are in agreement to the performance based model but what they are asking from the SLC Cricket Management Committee is for the points system adopted more..

May 17 (FT) As special envoys on COVID-19 for the Director-General of the World Health Organization, we have witnessed first-hand the intensity of the suffering caused by the pandemic, especially in poorer communities. This profound tragedy has been evolving before our eyes and still is nowhere near its end. In our experience, the first priority in responding to an infectious disease is to save lives and protect the health and wellbeing of current and future generations. At the same time, more..

May 17 (EN) Sri Lanka Transport Board (STLB) has deployed some of the 2,350 SLTB buses that operate around the island to compensate for an ongoing railway strike, SLTB Deputy General Manager (Operation) Rohana Tudor said. Tudor told EconomyNext that due to the ongoing train strike only five trains from the inter-provincial routes of Rambukkana, Mahawa, Kandy, Chilaw and Beliatta had arrived in Colombo Fort this morning. �We have informed SLTB depots in those areas to more..

May 17 (Island) Sri Lanka was currently experiencing high monetary expansion, but the Central Bank did not expect an acceleration of inflation in the near future, Economic Research Director at the Central Bank Dr. Chandranath Amarasekara told The Island yesterday. Answering a query on the broad money growth and its wider implications, Dr. Amarasekera said, �At the end of 2020, more..

May 17 (TM) The petitions filed by JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Senior State Counsel Janaka Bandara have been scheduled for consideration. The petitions were filed seeking the issuance of a writ order nullifying the recommendations made against him by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Political Victimisation. The petitions were taken up before a panel of judges comprising Justices Arjuna Obeysekera and Ruwan Fernando today, more..

May 17 (EN) Sri Lanka has allowed a nationalist tax to penalize foreign commercials to be charged for month from an earlier minimum six month charge of a half a million rupees. In a gazette notice issued under Finance Act, a new license for one month paying 100,000 rupees was allowed by Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa lowering the minimum license fee. Sri Lanka slapped protectionist taxes on foreign tele-dramas and television commercials in 2006 amid a rise in economic nationalism, more..

May 17 (CT) The system where people may travel based on the last digit of their National Identity Card (NIC) will begin from today, DIG Ajith Rohana said. However, he added that individuals may leave their homes only between 4:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. and they may only do so for essential purposes. Today, those whose NIC numbers end in odd numbers, that is 1,3,5,7 or 9, may travel to their nearest retailer to purchase essential goods, more..

May 17 (CT) Mullaithivu Chief Magistrate�s Court has imposed an injunction against the illegal assembly of people and lighting of lamps in the Mullivaikkal area of Mullaithivu. This injunction had been issued by the Court on a request made by Mullaithivu Police, connected to the COVId-19 health guidelines put in place to curb the spread of the virus. Police said its intelligence unit had received information that large groups of people were planning to gather in the Mullivaikkal more..

May 17 (CT) A call centre would be set up to coordinate the home care system for asymptomatic COVID-19 patients from today, State Minister Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle said. Dr. Fernandopulle said a mechanism would be set up to follow up the calls the Centre receives. Anyone who does not show symptoms, but tests COVID-19 positive is to be treated at their home. She said measures would be taken to admit the patient to a COVID-19 treatment facility if he or she more..

May 17 (Island) SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella yesterday said the govt had no funds to buy vaccines for the people as the dollar reserves were extremely low. He said that the pandemic had been ravaging the nations all over the world for more than one and a half years. �The vaccine against the virus was produced in May last year. The manufacturing companies obtained orders from that time, but the SLPP govt has not been able to more..

May 17 (DM) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa today said that the Palestinian people�s legitimate right to statehood must be upheld amidst escalating tension between Palestine and Israel which had claimed many lives in recent weeks. Rajapaksa said he was deeply concerned about the latest outbreak of hostilities within the Israeli-Palestinian region, which had already caused untold suffering for the people on both sides of the conflict. "Apart from causing much harm and misery to the people more..

May 17 (Island) Govt had allocated one million rupees per each District Secretariat initially to repair houses, etc., damaged due to heavy rains that wreaked havoc in some parts of the country, DMC Assistant Director Pradeep Kodippili said. He said that unlike on previous occasions, damages were minimal. Nearly 43,000 people from some 11,074 families have been affected due to heavy rains on Friday and Saturday. About 853 people from 205 families are currently being sheltered in more..

May 17 (ST) Serious concerns are being expressed over the dragging of feet by the Epidemiology Unit in vaccinating more than 2,000 newly-trained nurses who have recently been appointed to COVID-19 treatment centres. Some excuse or another is being made by epidemiology officials but the vaccination of these nurses is not happening even though the matter has been raised many times at meetings ^ public immunisation continues, more..

May 17 (Island) Tokyo Cement Group stepped forward to fulfil its National duty by signing a far-reaching MOU with the Ministry of Environment. Through this MOU, Tokyo Cement Group will fully sponsor a program by the Ministry to plant 200,000 Kumbuk and Bamboo trees in the Mahaweli River basin, with the objective of conserving this invaluable natural gift of national significance. The program Ivura rakina Pawura was symbolically kicked off recently at the Ministry of more..

May 17 (DM) A test carried out by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has revealed that the new premium hybrid 18 litre gas cylinder introduced by the Litro Gas Lanka Ltd contains the same chemical properties of the old cylinder whereas the Company claimed that the newly-introduced cylinder was more efficient, CAA Exec Director Thushan Jayawardane said. He said the Company had informed the CAA that the old cylinder weighing 12.5 kg had contained 80% Butane and 20% Propene more..

May 17 (AD) The criteria for the decision to treat asymptomatic COVID-19 patients at their own homes will be issued in the coming weekend, Head of the NOCPCO Army Commander General Shavendra Silva said. Army Commander said the President directed the Director-General of Health Services to compile a criterion for asymptomatic COVID-19 patients to be treated at home. However, this does not mean that more..

May 17 (CT) GMOA has warned that due to the failure of Head of the Epidemiology Unit, Dr. Sudath Samaraweera, to furnish the latest data and details concerning the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, since the emergence of the first wave here, all efforts being made to control the spread of the illness could collapse in a heap. GMOA Secretary Dr. Senal Fernando charged that had the Epidemiology Unit Head furnished the precise details and data regarding the spread of more..

May 17 (CT) Based on instructions from Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, Sathosa has arranged to distribute a relief pack containing 20 essential items valued at Rs 5,000 for people and families in quarantine and isolated areas. This is to be implemented according to a decision made during a discussion on setting up a mechanism to provide people with essential items as a result of the action taken by the Govt to impose travel restrictions throughout SL due to Covid-19 pandemic. more..

May 17 (CI) The ICC has concluded a three-year long investigation into allegations aired on a TV documentary in 2018 linking England and Australia players being involved in spot-fixing in two Test matches in India, in 2016 and 2017, calling them implausible. The ICC's anti-corruption unit (ACU) has also cleared five individuals, including two former cricketers, of any charges due to insufficient evidence. more..

May 17 (DM) Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera appealed to the public not to use polythene and plastic decorations for the Vesak festival. He requested a report from the CEA on the expenditure incurred on the annual consumption of polythene and plastic products in the country and the import of plastics and polythene products. �According to information released by the CEA, the country spends Rs.58 billion annually on importing polythene and plastics. more..

May 17 (TM) Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga says that the government is not prepared to postpone any project that will contribute to the future of the country and economic growth under the guise of the global Covid pandemic. Responding to questions raised by the media after inspecting the Covid vaccination program at the Minuwangoda Divisional Secretariat, the Minister said that the government is still optimistic about the future of the country and the economy. more..

May 18 (TM) Not everyone succeeds at plucking up the courage to raise a voice against wrongs, and what is special about those who do is that they speak not only for themselves, but also for their fellow citizens who do not have a voice. They free the mindsets that have been shackled by social, cultural, economic and political constraints, and by doing so, they contribute to propelling society forward. However, that is an arduous task that calls for collective endeavours based on more..

May 18 (CT) Are we in fact living in a failed State? The writer leaves the aforesaid question for the reader to answer. A born in late 1980s, at the height of the youth insurrection led by JVP, though not perceived first hand experiences, the writer has the sense of gruesome sentiments of loosing human lives and the feeling of them being martyred on the broad day light by State sponsored Army or vice versa. When the writer turned age of understanding, this country had experienced diabolical more..

May 18 (CT) Sri Lanka has a long way to go before achieving herd immunity naturally (through infection) or artificially through vaccination against COVID-19, said Prof. Neelika Malavige, of the Sri J'pura University. Prof. Malavige further said epidemiologists have provided evidence that Sri Lanka has community transmission at the moment. Prof. Malavige focuses on investigating the mediators that cause vascular leak in dengue more..

May 18 (CT) Ceylon Today on 25 Nov last year, published an editorial titled What a waste regarding the three million kilograms of vegetables that was left to rot at the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Centre. Even then, as the editorial mentions, it was not the first time where vegetables and other produce wasted during this pandemic. Each time when COVID-19 cases spiked during this health crisis, many local authorities followed a method of hastily shutting down travel, imposing more..

May 18 (CT) Sri Lanka ended its civil war on the 18th May 2009. Reconciliation has been understood as a better way for living together in a divided world and post-war SL is expected to work for sustainable reconciliation. In working for reconciliation, we need to work on the past wrongs, healing painful experiences and memory as well as designing a new future. Those who have traveled through pain and suffering need to deal with their dangerous memories in order to have trust in more..

May 18 (CT) The NOCPCO Task Force decided to impose travel restrictions in order to curb the spread of COVID-19, NOCPCO Chief and Army Commander, General Shavendra Silva said. �We steered clear of imposing a total lockdown because it is detrimental to the economy and daily wage earners,� he added. The third wave occurred due to people�s negligence during the New Year season, he further said. more..