Sri Lanka extends lockdown till June 14: Officials

Sri Lanka on Wednesday extended the lockdown till June 14 to bring under control the surge in the number of coronavirus cases in the island nation.

The current lockdown in force since mid May was due to be lifted on June 7 but now it has been extended till June 14, an official statement said.

The decision to impose travel restrictions instead of a blanket curfew came as the country reported a surge in the number of infections in its third wave of coronavirus infections.

Since mid April every day, the island nation has been recording a record number of infections.

Sri Lankan police said the current lockdown has been strictly imposed and only the essential services are permitted to operate.

During the current lockdown, the Sri Lankan police have arrested over 1,000 travel restriction violators.

The public health inspectors said it was essential that the public remains alert to onset the travel restrictions by staying indoors.

''If the public behaves irresponsibly the consequences will be tragic'', Upul Rohana, their spokesman said.

Sri Lanka has so far reported 189,241 cases of coronavirus while the number of deaths due to it stands at 1,527.

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