WorlPosted at: Aug 24 2021 5:26PM

Sri Lanka's former foreign minister dies of COVID-19

Colombo, Aug 24 (UNI/Xinhua) Sri Lanka's former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera died on Tuesday after being infected with the COVID-19 virus, local media reported here.
Samaraweera had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital in capital Colombo last week after he contracted the virus.
Local media quoting medical officers said Samaraweera had developed complications and suffered a cardiac arrest.
He succumbed to the virus on Tuesday morning.
Samaraweera, 65, had served as the Foreign Affairs Minister and Finance Minister in previous governments but stepped down from politics last year. At the time, he was a member of the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya political party.
Sri Lanka is in the midst of a rapid third wave of the COVID-19 which has infected over 390,000 people to date and caused 7,560 deaths.
UNI/XINHUA GNK 1725