Over 2,087 vehicles were also seized and all those arrested will be produced before local courts in the coming days.
Representational image (Photo: IStock)
Sri Lankan police on Friday arrested over 10,000 people from across the country for violating an island-wide curfew which has been in place since March 20 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the police’s statement, over 500 people being arrested within the past 24 hours alone for loitering on the roads, gathering and consuming alcohol at public grounds, travelling by vehicle on the roads, keeping restaurants open, behaving in an unruly manner on the roads and engaging in trading, defying curfew rules, the media report said.
Over 2,087 vehicles were also seized and all those arrested will be produced before local courts in the coming days.
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On March 20, The government had announced a nationwide curfewas a preventive measure against the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had called on the citizens of the country to temporarily halt travel, public gatherings or celebrations as this would enable the government to completely control the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Rajapaksa said a large number of Sri Lankans had returned to the country in recent days from virus-hit nations including Italy and authorities had identified all of them as well as their closest relatives and had asked them to be self quarantined in their own homes.
With businesses hampered due to the outbreak of the pandemic, President Rajapaksa also unveiled relief packages such as offering lentils and canned fish at subsidized rates, and ordered banks and finance companies to allow a recovery period of six months for the loan facilities taken by businesses.
Sri Lanka has detected 151 COVID-19 infected patients, out of which 22 have recovered and been discharged, while 125 are under observation in designated hospitals.
The death toll currently stands at four.
Over 10,000 are under isolation in their homes and at quarantine centres.
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