Restaurants at the Cinnamon Lakeside have shut down temporarily until further notice after some staff members of the hotel tested positive for the COVID-19, the Daily Mirror learns.

An official from the hotel confirmed that the restaurants had temporarily halted operations, based on the advice of the Medical Officers of Health and the restaurant premises were being disinfected.

The official said that some staff members, who had shown symptoms recently had been removed from operations and were checked by the inhouse doctors afterwhich they were sent for PCR tests. After their tests came in positive, the hotel took immediate steps, based on the MoH advice, to temporarily close all the areas that the staff members had been exposed to. 

The restaurants will be closed till MoH clearance is issued.

Guests who had made reservations at the hotel, had been notified and some inhouse guests had been moved to Cinnamon Lakesides' sister hotels in Colombo.

The official said Cinnamon Lakeside had a policy to conduct random PCR tests on their team members, often, and whenever a team member suffered from any symptoms, they were removed from operations immediately and referred to the inhouse doctors. Based on their advice, team members were then subjected to PCR tests.

The official said restaurant operations would resume soon. (JAMILA HUSAIN)