President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (20) requested the public to be prepared to make more sacrifices, if the country is to be placed under a lock down for a longer period of time in the future.
Addressing the nation following the announcement of 10 days curfew from 10.00 p.m. today, the President said that in this crucial juncture, everyone should take the country forward strategically by acknowledging the gravity of the situation.
He said that this is not an ideal time for holding protests and strikes. He requested the public not to attempt to destabilize the country by engaging in such actions.
The President explained that imposing an island wide curfew was not an easy decision as the country is gradually recovering from the massive losses the country faced from previous lock downs. However, to protect the people and control the pandemic, we decided to impose another curfew until 30 August, he said.