The government decided to strictly enforce the interprovincial travel restrictions which are in place in Sri Lanka until the 21st of October (Thursday), the President’s Media Division (PMD) said today.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also directed the security forces to closely monitor vehicular movement at all provincial borders due to the long weekend with holidays on the 19th and 20th.

These directives came during the virtual meeting of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control earlier today (October 15).

COVID vaccinations for Advanced Level students in the Colombo District began today and necessary measures have been taken to vaccinate the children of this age group (18-19 years) in other districts at schools and at regional health offices from the 21st of October, the Director-General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena told the meeting.

According to the health recommendations, one dose will be given to the school children and two doses will be administered to children with congenital diseases.
 
After completing the vaccination of school children, arrangements have been made to administer a booster shot as per to health recommendations. “Another 600,000 Pfizer vaccine doses are scheduled to arrive next Monday and the already ordered vaccines are being received uninterruptedly,” said Dr. Prasanna Gunasena, a member of the committee.

Meanwhile, President Rajapaksa pointed out the need to study the measures that should be taken to further reduce the number of COVID-19 deaths and the need to further isolate the relevant areas where patients are being reported.

Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya informed the COVID Committee that the Home Quarantine process adopted by the health sector to control the spread of COVID-19 virus has been highly commended by the World Health Organization.