• The President’s request for the people to be prepared for sacrifices simply means that prices of essential goods and services will be increased while salaries of public servants will be slashed

By Yohan Perera  

A proper lockdown where advice of health experts are followed is the need of the hour as there are people loitering along roads despite the quarantine curfew in place,” UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene said yesterday. 

Mr. Wijewardene who was speaking to some party activists over zoom said the lockdown should be made more effective with the advice of medical experts. “We see people loitering on roads despite the quarantine curfew today. We expected a more effective lockdown where health guidelines are properly followed,” he said.   

“We expected a three week lockdown but the government decided otherwise and went in for a ten day lockdown instead,” he added.   “The real meaning of the words spoken by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he asked the people to be prepared for sacrifices simply means that prices of essential goods and services will be increased while the salaries of public servants will have to be slashed. However, what we still propose is to go to the IMF. The Government could get more international assistance if it works with the IMF. What the government should do now is to generate more funds to run the economy,” he also said.   

Also, he said the government should expand the COVID vaccine programme to provide vaccines to children above 12 years of age.