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Stranded hundreds await trip home to south
Former parliamentarian Sunil Handunneththi has appealed to the government to help hundreds of construction workers from the south held up in Colombo unable to return home due to the quarantine curfew.
He has told the coronavirus committee in the Matara district headed by Minister of Education, Sports and Youth Affairs, Dullas Alahapperuma, about the situation. He suggested that the government make arrangements to bring them to their homes and quarantine them as they had been finding passage in vehicles transporting essential food items and were putting the community at risk.
The Matara panel has been meeting regularly at the District Secretariat.
Regional Director of Health Services, Matara, Dr A D U Karunarathna said that there were 727 families under self-quarantine in the district. He said health care staff and the people are being safeguarded.
He also said that postmortems will not be held in the event persons diagnosed with the coronavirus die.
District Secretary Matara, Pradeep Rathnayaka, assured that administration services in the district have been coordinated at all levels, while at grassroots level the Grama Seva Niladharis have been asked to check and report on the wellbeing and welfare of everyone in their areas.
On being informed of the plight of fishermen unable to sell their catch, Mr Alahapperuma had requested the Cooperative Societies to help suggesting that the maximum purchase price of a kilogram of skipjack (Balaya) should be Rs 200 and tuna should be Rs 350 per kilo.