Ten political parties affiliated with the government have requested President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to lock down the country for three weeks.
In a letter dated 18 August they have sent 7 proposals to the President to control COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Athuraliye Rathana Thera of Our Power of People’s Party, Wimal Weerawansa of National Freedom Front, Prof. Tissa Witharana of Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Vasudeva Nanayakkara of Democratic Left Front, Udaya Gammanpila of Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, A.L.M. Athaullah of National Congress, Tiran Alles of United People’s Party, G. Weerasinghe of Sri Lanka Communist Party, Asanka Nawarathne of Sri Lanka People’s Party and Gevindu Kumarathunga of Yuthukama National Organization have signed the letter.
The letter stated that they believe it would be impossible to bring down the number of COVID patients to a level that hospitals can accommodate, without imposing a three-week lockdown and they believe the trend of rising COVID-19 figures can be stopped by imposing a three-week islandwide lockdown.