Sri Lanka elections postponed over coronavirus pandemic
March 19, 2020
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will not be in a position to conduct parliamentary elections in the country as scheduled on April 25 due to the coronavirus outbreak, Mahinda Deshapriya, the chairperson of the country’s election commission, said on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka earlier this week banned all incoming flights for two weeks, and imposed a curfew in some areas to rein in the spread of the disease. There have been 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19 detected in Sri Lanka so far.
In nearby India, there are a total of 197 coronavirus cases, as 28 news ones were reported, while four people have died so far. In addition, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Singapore have reported four, 60, and 32 cases of COVID-19, respectively, bringing the aggregate to 18, 272, and 345, respectively.
Malaysia mosque gathering
On the other hand, Malaysia, which is to the east of Sri Lanka, has been in the news for a 16,000-people Islamic gathering at the Sri Petaling mosque compound last month that led to an explosion of cases in neighbouring countries, from where attendees had travelled for the event.
The first Islamic gathering-related death in Malaysia was recorded on Thursday when a 34-year-old man passed away.
The country has registered some 900 cases, with 110 news ones, and two people have died of coronavirus so far.
