MOHAMMED NASAR
COLOMBO : Shops, business concerns and traders associations have decided to close their retail outlets voluntarily to control the increasing number of Covid cases in Sri Lanka.
Some shops in Keyzer street in Pettah will remain closed for a period of one week to on a voluntary basis, while the shops in Negombo and Kochikade will be closed for a week from Thursday,August 19 on an understanding with the local bodies as well as the traders associations.
Local wesbites reported that store owners and city trade associations have voluntarily decided to close shops in 15 other cities due to the rapid spread of the Covid epidemic.
Shops in Trincomalee Urban Council and Pradeshiya Sabhas, Kegalle, Chilaw, Ampara, Wennappuwa, Kekirawa, Moneragala, Divulapitiya, Deraniyagala, Uragasmanhandiya, Wadduwa, Banduragoda, Rikillagaskada and Alawwa as well as shopping complex in Kodikamam, Jaffna will be closed.
Businesses in some cities have decided to close for a week, and in other cities for a couple of weeks or until further notice.
Shops in 16 cities across the country have already been closed, bringing the total number of cities closing shops to 31.
The traders’ associations say the decision was taken because of the risk of Covid spreading in their cities.
Speaking to the press, Minister Johnston Fernando said that closure is not at all necessary if the people strictly follow the guideline laid out by the health ministry. “ There is a hidden agenda in this whole operations, where the opposition politicians are involved in destructive efforts to bring bad name to the government,” he said, pointing out that the country’s president knows to put a lockdown as and when necessary.
