News
Home » NewsDengue also rises: Double work for PHIs
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, dengue fever cases are also on the rise. So it is double work for Public Health Inspectors and other health sector staff. Our picture shows a PHI directing a dengue fumigation operation at a tenement garden in Dematagoda. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Energy Ministry to borrow USD 1 bn to pay local loans
The Government has decided to obtain a loan of USD 1 billion from international private lending agencies to set off interest payments for loans obtained from two state banks to purchase fuel, a senior official of the Ministry of Energy said. Ministry Secretary K.D.R. Olga told the Sunday Times the funds would be used to [...]
Importers warn of price hikes if forex facility is not restored
Essential food item importers have urged the Government to reintroduce the banking system under which they were allowed to import goods on an assessed foreign currency value ensuring their losses were minimal due to the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar. They have warned that if it was not reintroduced, their import quantities [...]
Govt. intervenes to stabilise price of rice
A deadline for rice producers and traders to register their stocks with the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) ended yesterday amid plans by the Trade Ministry to buy their supplies and keep prices affordable. The CAA in keeping with a gazette notification issued last Friday has collected the details from some dealers, but others have not [...]
Flaws in vaccination programme; medical specialists say hundreds of deaths could have been prevented
The COVID-19 vaccination programme has come under fire from senior medical specialists who are part of the independent expert panel of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), calling for an immediate probe on major flaws that could have prevented deaths. The eight professionals are – Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama (physician), Prof. Neelika Malavige (immunologist), Dr. Rajiva [...]
Wimal’s phosphate company goes to Agriculture Ministry
The Lanka Phosphate Company Ltd. which was under the purview of the Ministry of Industries has been brought under the Ministry of Agriculture, according to a gazette notification issued by the Presidential Secretariat. The gazette notification which amended the functions and duties of the two Ministries also included another new institution — the National Enterprise [...]
GMOA battles intensify as AGM looms
The hotly-contested election to appoint four crucial office bearers of the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) is scheduled for next Saturday (June 26), with battles between two factions being fought both in and out of court. The face-off for the important posts of President, Secretary, two Assistant Secretaries and Editor is between the old guard [...]
A quiet farewell for top military man
One of Sri Lanka’s top military men, General (retd) Cyril Ranatunga, bid farewell to the nation at a private funeral sans any military formalities at the request of his family. The funeral took place on Thursday at the General Cemetery in Borella. General (retd) Cyril Ranatunga, who served as the General Officer Commanding, Joint Operations [...]
Religious events to mark President’s birthday today
Religious events will be held to mark the 72nd birthday of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa which falls today (20). He visited the Gangaramaya Temple last evening to take part in religious observances ahead of his birthday. He is also due to visit the Ruwanweliseya in Anuradhapura. A spokesman for the President’s Office said President Rajapaksa will [...]
For third consecutive year Poson on low key; pandal artists and technicians paint sad story
The Buddhasasana Ministry has decided to observe Poson festival on a low key this year, too, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry said the country’s second most important Buddhist festival would be celebrated this year with religious programmes, mostly via online platforms. Ministry Secretary Kapila Gunawardena told The Sunday Times that even though [...]
Hakuna Matata: Zoo’s Covid-infected Lion king on path to recovery
‘Thor’ the Dehiwela Zoo lion who tested positive for COVID-19 is responding well to treatment, a senior zoo official said. He said that the lion, named after the American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character, had eaten well and passed stools without a problem on Friday. He said in a move to prevent [...]
‘These majestic creatures do not deserve such horrific deaths’
Bloodshot eyes, bleeding gums, burned and discoloured shells show that the final moments of more than 50 sea turtles and some dolphins were filled with pain, experts said, fearing that hundreds of sea creatures lie dead in the ocean following direct exposure to the chemicals from the sunken X-Press Pearl. The container ship sank on [...]
High-level meeting tomorrow to select foreign expert to assess damage
Magistrate’s Court seeks Govt Analyst’s report on seawater pollution Agent claims authorities allowed the fire to spread in hope of receiving compensation The Attorney General (AG) has decided to initiate criminal proceedings against the Captain of the MV X-Press Pearl and the local agent of the Singapore-based operators of the ill-fated vessel. Indictments are to [...]
UN experts prepare report on ship disaster
Recommending short-term response measures and long-term recovery plans, the United Nations will submit a report to the Government on its investigation into the marine catastrophe following the recent fire on the cargo ship MV X-Press Pearl, according to the UN Resident Coordinator’s office. It said the report would be based on observations made by the [...]
Lankan-British company has digitised solution for smooth flow of vaccination; but few takers here
A British-Sri Lankan company has created a digital tool that can cover 17.5mn people and send out 500,000 SMS messages a day to push forward the COVID-19 vaccination programme–but has found no interest for it among local legislators. The application was recently used with success in several Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas of the [...]
Life is going to get tougher as fuel hikes hit home
Get ready to cut down your weekly budget by sacrificing on groceries, cutting travel expenses and delaying purchases of clothes and non-essential items as the fuel price hike is expected to hit middle and low-income earners hard once travel restrictions are lifted. Last week, petrol octane 95 was increased by Rs. 23 a litre and [...]
Pick of the Pix
From our readers Shutterbugs out there, we would once again appreciate your contributions to this picture corner. Please send your captioned photograph along with your name, and the location of the photograph, to: pictures@sundaytimes.wnl.lk
Kalubowila HDU: A heartfelt gift from the people to the people
The need of humble men and women hit by the rampaging virus was dire and the response has been commendable. Next week, the Colombo South (Kalubowila) Teaching Hospital which has been going from strength to strength, opens a state-of-the-art, 20-bed High Dependency Unit (HDU) for COVID-19 patients, with an estimated value of Rs. 150 million. [...]
Close eye on WP as restrictions are eased – DG
The travel restrictions will be lifted tomorrow, re-imposed for 30 hours to cover the Poson holiday and lifted once again, while the Delta (Indian) variant was detected this week in the community at Dematagoda. “The travel restrictions are being lifted under very strict conditions,” the Director-General (DG) of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena told the [...]
All about ‘Delta’ from Prof. Malavige
“While finding Delta is bad news, we have vaccines to prevent severe disease and death” The Delta (Indian) variant has been found among the people at Dematagoda, in samples on which genetic sequencing was conducted this week. Confirming the findings, Prof. Neelika Malavige, Head of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri [...]
Analysis of cases and deaths crucial to plot virus path
The decision to give COVID-19 deaths-by-date is a crucial need and should be done even with the past data as well (with retrospective effect) to get accurate evidence of the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, said many experts. It is also important for RT-PCR case numbers to be reported on a daily [...]