President, officials explore possibility of resuming day-to-day life at provincial level

The possibility of immediate resumption of day-to-day economic activities at provincial levels in order to safeguard the national economy was explored at a meeting chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today, the President's Media Division said.

The PMD said several representatives of the health sector including all the Provincial Directors of Health briefed the President on the current situation in the country, at the meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat. "President instructed the Provincial Directors of Health to make necessary recommendations required to maintain normal activities in the industrial, agricultural and business sectors through the Director-General of Health.

Decisions to relax current restrictions will be taken only after considerations of health situation at each provincial level. One of the main objectives is to pay special attention to the livelihood of daily wage workers. Individuals who are infected with Coronavirus at each province, people they have associated with and the current quarantine process were some of the topics discussed.

Attention was also paid to the system of identifying infected people on a daily basis. President also inquired about the present conditions at quarantine centres and the changes needed to be made.

The provincial health authorities said that measures taken by the government to combat the coronavirus was effective compared to the rest of the world. President Rajapaksa said that this prevailing situation also provides an opportunity to assess the current situation as well as to pay attention to the steps that should be taken to improve the strategy," the PMD said.

Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Secretary to the President, P.B. Jayasundara, Principal Advisor to the President, Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary Defence Kamal Gunaratne, Secretary to the Ministry of Health, Bhadrani Jayawardena, Chief of Defence Staff and Army Commander Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Navy Piyal De Silva, Commander of the Air Force Sumangala Dias, Acting Inspector General of Police C. D. Wickremaratne and Director General of Health Services Dr Anil Jasinghe attended the meeting.