Schools shut down till July 17 amid rising threat of COVID-19

The decision to shut schools was taken following discussions with Education Minister Dullas Alahapperuma and education officials islandwide after nearly 400 patients were detected with the COVID-19 virus from the rehabilitation center within the past three days, the Education Ministry said in a statement.

"Considering the guidelines of the health and safety sectors, it has been decided to give one week leave to all schools to monitor the adverse conditions that may occur in the school sector," the statement said.

Sri Lankan schools had been shut from March but re-opened two weeks ago after authorities said they had contained the spread of the virus. However with a new cluster reported, the government said it had decided to shut schools again as a precautionary measure.

The number of positive COVID-19 patients reached 2,612 on Sunday evening after over 94 people tested positive during the day. A majority of the patients were detected from the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Center while some patients were among those who were repatriated from overseas recently.