There were 727 families under self quarantine in the Matara district, said Dr A D U Karunarathna Regional Director Health Services Matara and the action committee setup to curtail the spread of COVID19 in the district headed by Minister of Education, Sports and Youth Affairs Dullas Alahapperuma. The action committee has been meeting regularly at the District Secretariat in Matara after the government imposed a curfew to prevent the feast of Coronavirus.
Former Parlimenterian Sunil Handuneeththi informed the committee that there were hundreds of Southerners employed in the construction sector in Colombo and its suburbs who are unable to return home due to the curfew and restrictions of travel. He suggested that the government should make arrangements to bring them back and quarantine them as they were returning illegally in vehicles that were transporting essential food items and were putting the community at risk.
On being informed of the plight of fishermen unable to sell their catch, Minister Alahapperuma requested the Cooperative Societies to help suggesting that the maximum purchase price of several commodities.
The Police informed the Committee that some people were misusing the permission given to transport essential food items and that they had detected a vehicle displaying an essential services board transporting illicit hooch.
Heads of Local Government institutions in the Matara district, heads or representatives of Government institutions and former law makers Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, Kanchana Wijesekera, Niroshan Premathilake and Manoj Sirisena attend the two hour discussion.