By Prabhath Withana
Customs officials had seized over 200 million sticks of foreign cigarettes worth over nine billion rupees hidden in 21 containers, Customs Department sources said.
The Compliance and Facilitation Division of the Customs Departments investigated the 21 containers that had been marked as ‘Ceylon Black Tea’ and sent from the United Arab Emirates. The containers had been marked for re-exporting to countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, customs sources said, adding that the investigators found that forged shipping documents had been made for the containers. A name and address of a Sri Lankan tea company had been mentioned in the documents as the re-exporter.
By Dinasena Ratugamage
Thirty-one students attached to the Vavuniya Campus of the Jaffna University had contracted Covid-19, Vavuniya MOH Dr. S. Lavan told the media yesterday.
The students had been admitted to the newly established hospital for COVID-19 cases in Vavuniya.
University administrators conducted random PCR tests on the students after a few students showed COVID-19 symptoms in recent days and all associates of the COVID-19 cases are being quarantined at the campus itself.
A ward at the Vavuniya Hospital has been closed down temporarily after two doctors and four nurses at the ward contracted Covid-19. They have been sent to a treatment centre and other staff members and patients are under quarantine. A hospital administrator said that the entire office had been disinfected and the public should not worry about seeking treatment from the hospital.
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has produced what a senior officer in the service called a ‘Heated Humidified Oxygen Therapy Unit’ amidst fear of an imminent shortage of oxygen for Covid-19 patients
The Heated Humidified Oxygen Therapy Unit, which would benefit the patients with respiratory difficulties, was officially handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday (12).
The President Media Division said in a press release: “In order to face the imminent shortage of ventilators in the country in the face of the COVID 19 global pandemic, the Heated Humidified Oxygen Therapy Unit was innovated with the contribution of Professor Ranil de Silva, Dr. Thilanka Ratnapala and a team of medical experts as per the instructions of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and as a concept of Vidya Jyothi Dr. Bandula Vijay, who is a renowned ambassador in the international innovation arena.
More Coast Guard vessels would be deployed to intercept and search Indian fishermen who enter Sri Lankan territorial waters, Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda said yesterday.
Minister Devananda said that the Navy was currently doing a great job of protecting the country from Indian fishermen. However, the smugglers and human traffickers operating out of India had increased and thus he asked the Coast Guard to provide more assistance, he said.
“In recent weeks, the navy has increased patrols in the seas off Jaffna. This has curbed poaching. However, as COVId-19 spreads in India, there will be many more attempts to enter Sri Lanka. We have to be ready,.”
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Urban Development, Coast Conservation, Waste Disposal and Community Cleanliness State Minister Dr Nalaka Godahewa yesterday (13) questioned the failure on their part to administer 600,000 Chinese Sinopharm vaccines while the ground situation deteriorated.
Addressing the media at his ministry, Dr. Godahewa said that delaying the use of the stock donated by China was an unfortunate lapse.
Sri Lanka received the stock on March 31 whereas the government finally gave the go ahead to use it only on May 8.
Responding to media queries, Dr. Godahewa said that stakeholders had been engaged in a debate without using the available vaccines. The State Minister questioned the rationale in delaying tactics while asking whether the delay was deliberate.