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198 COVID-19 deaths were confirmed for Tuesday (24), said the Director General of Health Services. According, the total number of COVID-19 fatalities in Sri Lanka increased to 7,948.

The prevailing inter-provincial travel restrictions will be thoroughly implemented from midnight today, Army Commander General Shavendra Silva said.

He said the inter-province public transport would also be suspended from midnight today.

“However, the inter-provincial travel restrictions will not be applicable for banking, tourism, ports, apparel sectors and essential services,” the Army Commander said.

The decisions were taken during the COVID Task Force meeting held this morning at the Presidential Secretariat.

He also said it was utmost essential to operate restaurants and shopping malls under strict adherence to health guidelines.

Musician Iraj Weeraratne, who was appointed as director of the National Youth Services Council (NYSC), has resigned from the post.

Weeraratne has sent a letter to the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Namal Rajapaksa today informing his decision to resign from the post.

He said the decision was taken as he had to attend to some urgent personal work.

Minister Namal Rajapaksa had appointed Iraj Weeraratne as a director of the NYSC in August last year.

Former Minister Mangala Samaraweera has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The former Finance Minister is currently under treatment while his condition is said to be stable.

The maximum retail price for 60 medicinal drugs has been declared by the Minister of Health.

The Minister of Health, Keheliya Rambukwella declared this via the issuance of a special gazette notification.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today alleged that the Government was manipulating data and information on the Covid-19 pandemic violating the people’s right to know the true situation of the pandemic.

Former JVP MP Sunil Hadunnetti told a news conference that it was vital for the people and decision making bodies to know the true data and information on the pandemic situation.

He said it was reported that there was a contradiction in the data and information issued by the Covid Task Force and the Provincial Directors of the Health Services and pointed out that it was a serious matter.

“It was reported that there was a contradiction of the data on Covid patients in the Gampaha District. We doubt the statistics on the Covid mortality was also twisted,” he said.

Hadunnetti said the Covid Task Force was getting data through the Health Ministry and added that it was either the Director General of Health Services or Head of the Covid Task Force was releasing the incorrect information.

Three unique mutations appearing in Delta variant together found for the first in the world from Colombo, Dr Chandima Jeewandara said.

Dr Jeewandara who is the Director of the Allergy, Immunology and Cell Biology Unit of Sri Jayewardenepura University said this was identified in the latest genetic sequencing carried on samples obtained from several areas in the country.

“The Indian lineage with three mutations seem to be the dominant in majority of samples in the Colombo district,” he said.

“The three mutations are A22V, A701S and A1078S. One of the mutations, which is A701S has been originated from Sri Lanka while A22V has been described in different parts of the world and A1078S mutation has been detected in Malaysia,” he underlined.

Dr Jeewandara said they were closely monitoring this as it is a significant finding and investigating the importance of this finding to see whether there is an advantage with these three mutations for the survival and transmissibility of the virus.

Meanwhile, he said out of the 88 samples of COVID-19 patients obtained from several districts, 84 cases were of Delta variant.

“The cases of Delta variant were mainly detected in the Colombo district. The other patients were detected from Kandy, Matale, Ratnapura, Nuwara Eliya, Galle, Vavuniya, Maharagama, Malabe and Gampaha,” he added.

A total of 156 more COVID-19 related deaths that occurred yesterday (11) were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services today pushing the death toll to 5,620.

According to the Government Information Department,69 females and 87 males are among the deceased.

The Quarantine Curfew will come into effect from 10 PM on Friday (20) to 04 AM on Monday (30), said Army Commander General Shavendra Silva.

During this period all essential services, medical supply & distribution, agriculture, and textiles sectors can operate without any issue.

Further, all individuals over the age of 60 will be subject to a special vaccination program by the health authorities.

The temporary license issued for the production of the so-called “Miracle COVID Tonic” known as Dhammika Paniya has been revoked.

Dr. Dhammika Abeygunawardena, Commissioner of Ayurveda of the Department of Ayurveda confirmed this speaking at a press briefing to apprise the public of the Ayurvedic treatment given for COVID-19 on Wednesday (11).

“As of now, 14 medicines have been given recommendations and legalized,” he said.

“We had given a temporary license to the Ayurvedic medicine you mentioned but it did not pass the clinical trials” the commissioner added in response to a question.

According to the Commissioner of Ayurveda “the temporary license issued for that product was revoked”.

Island-wide quarantine curfew will come into effect between 10.00 pm and 4.00 am from tomorrow (August 16), the Head of National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO), General Shavendra Silva announced.

The quarantine curfew order will be in effect every day until further notice, the Army Commander said further.

Accordingly, movement of the members of public is strictly restricted during this period, except for employees in essential services.

Sri Lanka’s economic woes cannot be solved without addressing the fundamental issues plaguing the country's economy, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Eran Wickramaratne said.

The SJB lawmaker said that under this government, Sri Lanka is currently facing crises such as higher spending than revenue, higher import expenditure than exports indicating a deficit in the current account and widening budget deficit.

“What needs to be done is to change the doctor rather than changing the medication to resolve the problems we are facing,” Wickramaratne said speaking in Parliament yesterday on the debate on the CBSL Annual Report – 2020.

Commenting further, the former State Minister of Finance said:

“Today Sri Lanka is facing a dual crisis. One is that spending is higher than our national revenue. This is an average deficit of 7.6% of GDP since 1990. Income has fallen since 1995. This problem has been exacerbated by the gradual decline in the country's revenue from 17.3% to 11.6% of the GDP from 2006 to 2014 under the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

However, the previous government had set its sights on the increase of revenue in 2018. We then said that we should take a basic step to reduce the budget deficit and increase revenue.

Accordingly, the good governance government was able to increase revenue to 13.5% by 2018. But due to the 2018 coup, government revenue fell to 12.6%.

The second structural crisis is the deficit in the current account. Since 2000, revenue from exports has continued to decline as a percentage of GDP. As a result of these two issues, we have to borrow internationally and locally.

The incumbent government has failed to address these fundamental issues. Even today, this government does not seem to have focused on this need. If there is a change in policy, we look forward to hearing about that change in the next budget.

Minister Cabraal, who spoke today, went to the international market for the first time in 2007 as the Governor of the Central Bank and obtained a USD 500 million ISB loan to bridge the budget deficit.

Of course, he is now delivering sermons telling different stories that the government does not need money from international markets. That was the first time Sri Lanka had obtained an ISB loan. The then government started borrowing in 2007 as a new source to cover the fiscal deficit. Since then, it has continued to borrow dollars at high interest rates.

Borrowing to finance white elephant projects

Under such a context, who will come and invest in Sri Lanka? We borrowed and created white elephants.

During the Mahinda Rajapaksa Presidency, they launched projects such as Nelum Kuluna and Hambantota Conference Hall that did not directly benefit the people or the country.

Implementing such projects by obtaining loans is not an appropriate decision. The Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) is a gift from China.

Even in the future, if we take a loan, we should invest them in a project that would generate income to the masses and the country.

Declining foreign reserves

Everyone remembers that in the last quarter of 2018, the foreign reserves stood at USD 7.8 billion. After the 2018 coup, it was down by USD 1 billion. Sri Lankan rupee depreciated by 10 rupees. Although GDP was said to have declined during the previous government, the average growth rate remained at 4.3% until the third quarter of 2018. This government has lied that growth has slowed down but it is not true. This problem in this country arose because of the conspiracy that preceded the Easter attack.

CBSL gimmicks?

The previous government introduced a modernized Finance bill for national accounting. The accounting system was changed. The income from it gradually increased. Now it must be said that the Central Bank has done some mathematical gimmicks with its report.

The Central Bank report 2020 showed that expenditure has decreased in that year. The national accounting by the CBSL continues to be calculated on a cash basis. CBSL has changed the accounting system into accrual basis in 2020. Although it showed that the budget deficit is 11 % by transferring the expenses of Rs 420 billion to the previous year’s account, actually it is 14 % of GDP. Accordingly, the highest fiscal deficit of 14 % recorded in this country in 38 years, was recorded in 2020.

Another gimmick was to show that the total debt to GDP ratio by 2020 was 101%, but it is 109% when combined with loans obtained by state-owned enterprises separately. In addition, the Petroleum Corporation's debt of Rs. 345 billion increased by 16% by 2020. In 2019 it went up from Rs 297 b to Rs 345 b while the world oil prices were low, while the country did not use oil because of the lockdown. When the oil prices fell the government did not pass on the benefit to consumers.

There was a third gimmick in this report. Although it is said that our foreign borrowing has come down, this is really a numbered game. The value of international sovereign bonds is stated in market value, but it should have been stated based on the face value. The billion dollar ISB paid recently was also based on face value. Therefore, in order to know the true value of the loan, the face value of the loan must be stated. If the face value is mentioned, the amount of foreign loans will increase further,” he said.

Wickramratne urged not to use this numbered game if the government wants to build its credibility and the confidence in investors and rating agencies. He also called on the members of the Monetary Board to protect the independence of the Central Bank.