Colombo
Sri Lanka ordered government schools across the nation to shut Monday, just a week after they re-opened, following a surge in new coronavirus cases.
The country has reported just 2,617 cases with 11 deaths, but army chief Shavendra Silva said nearly half the 1,100 residents and staff at a drug rehab facility near the capital had tested positive in the past week, and some visitors may also have been infected.
At least 16 cases had emerged in villages elsewhere across the nation, officials said, most in the central-northern region.
“Based on the direction of health authorities, it is decided to close schools this week,” the education ministry said in a statement.—APP
