Sri Lanka's public servants asked to return to office

There have been over 600 deaths over the last 10 days or so, Dr Prasad Colombage said.Yesterday, some 2,370 new infections were recorded.The public health inspectors union said the arrangements at vaccination centres were far from satisfactory.

All public servants in Sri Lanka have been asked to return to work from Monday despite warnings from health authorities that the threat of highly contagious Delta variant was very much alive.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ordered the cancellation of circulars which allowed state officials to work from home, his office said on Friday.

"Since the majority of public servants have been vaccinated, the priority should be given to restore normalcy to the public service," the president's office said in a statement.

The order has come despite warnings from health authorities that the threat of the Delta variant, first identified in India, was very much alive.

The doctors' trade union said the island is on the verge of recording 4,000 cases per day very soon due to the Delta variant, up from average 1,500 daily infections recorded currently. "There have been over 600 deaths over the last 10 days or so,'' Dr Prasad Colombage said.

Yesterday, some 2,370 new infections were recorded.

The public health inspectors union said the arrangements at vaccination centres were far from satisfactory. "We see large numbers of people gathering at vaccination centres, completely ignoring health guidelines,'' its spokesperson Upul Rohana said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)