WEB DESK

Sri Lankan government issued a gazette notification last night on health guidelines to be followed for the upcoming parliamentary elections in wake of COVID crisis.

The gazette contains guidelines that should be adhered by the political parties, their supporters, election candidates and voters during the election period. Accordingly, a candidate needs to give prior intimation of an election meeting to medical officer of the area and the meeting should not exceed more than five hundred people.

Any person associated with election campaign or conduct of elections needs to wear masks, practice social distancing of one metre amidst adequate arrangements for sanitizers. The notification is in line with health guidelines issued by Health Ministry earlier. The election commission has insisted for it to be gazetted so that it is legally enforced. The commission had noted that the guidelines were not being adhered to during the ongoing campaign and that it will be difficult to conduct the elections without it.

Meanwhile, 10 people were tested positive yesterday including eight from the rehabilitation centre which has seen over five hundred cases over the past week. Several hundred have been put under self quarantine to avoid any spread and people have been advised to take safety precautions. The country has had a total of 2697 infections so far while 674 are under active treatment. A total of 2013 people have recovered while 11 people have died.