International Affairs

ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයේ වෛද්‍යවරුන් ලෙස හා සෞඛ්‍ය සේවයේ වෘත්තිකයින් ලෙස සේවය කිරීමට කැමැත්තෙන් පසුවන්නන්ට ලගම ඇති ඇමරිකානු එක්සත් ජනපද කවුනිසිලර් කර්යාලයට හෝ තානාපති කාර්යාලයට පැමිනෙන ලෙස ඇමරිකානු රාජ්‍ය දෙපාරතමේන්තුවේ කොන්සලර් කටයුතු අංශය දැනුම් දී ඇතැයි වාර්තා වේ.

The Italian Embassy has issued the following clarifications with regard to certain news items on the COVID-19 situation in Italy appearing in the Sri Lankan press:

LONDON - Countries can't simply lock down their societies to defeat coronavirus, the World Health Organization's top emergency expert said on Sunday, adding that public health measures are needed to avoid a resurgence of the virus later on.

The total number of coronavirus cases around the globe has already crossed the 4.8 lakh mark. As the total number of cases increase, the World Health Organisation is planning to launch an app that will not only give users tips to safeguard themselves against the virus outbreak but also detailed statistics of cases around the world.

Spain now has more coronavirus deaths than any country except Italy, after adding 738 fatalities on Wednesday.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - It was Thursday morning, and my phone buzzed with a text message from South Korea’s emergency alert system, as it has hundreds of times during the coronavirus outbreak.

UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus, Downing Street has said.

The Prince of Wales has tested positive for coronavirus, Clarence House has announced.

Prince Charles, 71, is displaying mild symptoms "but otherwise remains in good health", a spokesman said, adding that the Duchess of Cornwall, 72, has been tested but does not have the virus.

Charles and Camilla are now self-isolating at Balmoral.

Buckingham Palace said the Queen last saw her son, the heir to the throne, on 12 March, but was "in good health".

The palace added that the Duke of Edinburgh was not present at that meeting, and that the Queen was now "following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare".

A Clarence House statement read: "In accordance with government and medical advice, the prince and the duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland.

"The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire, where they met the criteria required for testing.

"It is not possible to ascertain from whom the prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks."

The duke and duchess arrived in Scotland on Sunday. Charles had been displaying mild symptoms over the weekend and was tested by the NHS in Aberdeenshire on Monday.

The results came through on Tuesday night, showing he was positive.

Charles is still working, is up and about and in good spirits.

The 71-year-old heir to the throne last saw the Queen briefly on the 12 March. Three days earlier, mother and son had more protracted contact during the Commonwealth Day Service.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for contributing $ 5 million to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Corona Emergency Fund.

ROME - As Italy continues to battle the coronavirus, a patient who contracted the virus earlier this month warns the world to be careful because the virus can be passed by those who show no symptoms.

In light of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, Temasek Foundation, Singapore has offered to provide 5000 numbers of Fortitude Kit 2.0 (COVID-19 test kits) to the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka will contribute to the SAARC emergency fund proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to combat the outbreak of COVID-19, a minister said.

Sri Lanka is now feeling economic brunt following corona virus outbreak with the Colombo bourse temporarily halted trading a few weeks ago following the S&P Index plunging by more than five percent, reflecting negative sentiment of investors from a corporate standpoint.

Italian embassy in Sri Lanka said ‘the returnees from Italy referenced in recent news publications have never obtained a visa from this Embassy, nor have ever requested one.’

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සහ එහි ජනතාව මේ වනවිට මුහුණ දෙමින් සිටින කොරෝනා වෛරස ව්‍යාප්තිය පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය සහාය ලබාදීමට චීන මහජන සමූහාණ්ඩුවේ වෛද්‍ය විශේෂඥයන් පිරිසක් වීම සඳහා ඕනෑම මොහොතක සූදානම් යයි චීන ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට දන්වා තිබේ.

කොරෝනා වයිරසයෙන් මුළු ලෝකයටම සිදුව ඇති බලපෑමත් සමඟ මානුෂීය අර්බුදවලින් පෙළෙන කලාප සහ රටවලට කරන ජාත්‍යන්තර ආධාර ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 2කින් වැඩි කරන්නැයි එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මහලේකම් ඇන්තෝනියෝ ගුටරෙස් මහතා (25) ලෝක ප්‍රජාවගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කළේය.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games may have to be postponed if the event cannot take place “in a complete way” due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a telephone conversation with Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena yesterday to discuss regional cooperation to combat the coronavirus pandemic.