International Affairs

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday that it has approved a $ 3 million (over Rs. 500 million) grant from its Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund (APDRF) to further assist Sri Lanka in its response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The United States has provided a $ 600,000 grant to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to support the critical COVID-19 response in Sri Lanka.

සිය රට එන ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගේ PCR පරීක්ෂණ ගාස්තු අය කිරීමකින් තොරව එරටදීම සිදු කිරීමට ලෙබනන් රජය තීරණය කරයි.

The World Bank projects Sri Lanka’s economy to contract by 3.2% this year and remain flat at zero percent next year.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, said at a press briefing that it still appears to be rare that asymptomatic individuals actually transmit onward.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has changed its advice on face masks, saying they should be worn where COVID-19 is widespread and physical distancing is difficult.

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්වරිය පසුගියදා නිකුත් කළ නිවේදනයක් මගින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අදහස් ප්‍රකාශනයේ අයිතිය සීමා කර පුද්ගල නිදහස උල්ලංඝනය කර ඇතැයි යන ප්‍රකාශයට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නිල වශයෙන් විරෝධය පළ කර තිබේ.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed alarm at the clampdown on freedom of expression in parts of the Asia-Pacific, including Sri Lanka, during the COVID-19 crisis.

Sri Lanka contributed 17,000 USD to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2019, a report by OHCHR issued yesterday (Friday) said.

GENEVA (Reuters): New coronavirus cases had their biggest daily increase ever as the pandemic worsens globally and has yet to peak in central America, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, urging countries to press on with efforts to contains the virus.

ඉන්දියාවේ කොවිඩ් -19 වසංගතය සමනය වනතුරු ‘ඩාවුඩ් බෝරා ප්‍රජාවේ’ ආධ්‍යාත්මික ආචාර්ය සයිඩ්නා මෆාඩාල් සයිෆුඩීන් ඇතුළු අනුගාමිකයන් හතළිස් පස්දෙනකුට මෙරටට පැමිණ රැඳී සිටීම සඳහා අවසර ලබාදෙන ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයෙන් කරන ලද ඉල්ලීමකට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අනුමැතිය ලබාදී ඇත.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Some countries have seen “upticks” in COVID-19 cases as lockdowns ease, and populations must protect themselves from the coronavirus while authorities continue testing, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

On behalf of the President and Prime Minister, Government and people of Sri Lanka, Foreign Relations, Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena met the Ambassadors of Arab countries based in Colombo at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, yesterday.

China yesterday confirmed that talks were ongoing towards offering debt relief to Sri Lanka.

CAIRO, EGYPT - The Group of 20 rich and emerging economies has pledged more than $21 billion to fight the coronavirus, the group said early Saturday.

High Commissioner of Canada to Sri Lanka David McKinnon, and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Sri Lanka Representative Ritsu Nacken yesterday signed a grant agreement of CDN$ 400,000 to ensure that vulnerable women and girls have access to vital services related to gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health during the pandemic.

Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva Tamara Kunanayakam has said that an US embassy official cannot be allowed to 'flout our laws and regulations and put the lives of our people at risk'.

Japan intends to roll out coronavirus vaccines to the public by June 2021, the country’s health minister said Friday.