PRESIDENT PARDONS SOLDIER WHO THESE ARE TESTING SLAUGHTERED TAMIL CIVILIANS TIMES FOR SRI LANKA MARCH 27 - 29, 2020 VOL: 4- ISSUE 188 30. DEAD IN THEIR BEDS THE GREAT EMPTY GLOCAL PAGE 03 REALITY CHECK PAGE 05 COMMENTARY PAGE 07 A THOUSAND WORDS PAGE 08 Registered in the Department of Posts of Sri Lanka under No: QD/144/News/2020 COVID-19 and curfew in Sri Lanka -Four new cases of the novel coronavirus were diagnosed yesterday (26) taking the total number of confirmed cases to 106. No cases were detected on Wednesday (25). - Police curfew imposed in the districts of Colombo, Kalu- tara, and Gampaha, identified as High-Risk Zones for the spread of COVID -19, will continue to be in force until further notice. -Police curfew imposed in the Jaffna District will not be lifted at 6:00 a.m. today (27) as was previously scheduled, but will continue until further notice. Curfew in the districts of Puttalam, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullativu will be lifted at 6:00 a.m. today and re-imposed at 2.00 p.m. the same day and continue until 6.00 a.m. Monday (30). -In other areas, the curfew re-imposed at 2.00 p.m. will continue till 6:00 a.m. Monday. - Leave for all ranks of police have been cancelled until April 10, due to the prevailing situation in the country with the COVID-19 outbreak. -March 30 to April 3 is declared a ‘Work from Home’ period applicable all State, semi-government and private sector enti- ties except those which are categorized as essential services. - The Central Bank (CB), Commercial Banks, Insurance ser- vices and Treasury are included in the list of essential services with the Central bank instructed to ensure they operate dur- ing curfew hours. - The Postmaster General instructs post offices and sub post offices to remain open for at least two hours a day during non- curfew hours. Coronavirus toll 21,873 deaths at 1100 GMT yesterday - Muhammad HAJ KADOUR / AFP PARIS -The number of deaths around the world from the A member of the Syrian civil defence, known as the population of three million, already buckling under string of attacks also displaced nearly one million novel coronavirus stood at 21,873, according to a tally com- White Helmets, disinfects a former school building extreme shortages of medicine, is considered to people, cramming the growing influx of families piled by AFP at 1100 GMT yesterday (26) from official sources. currently inhabited by displaced families in the be one of the world's most defenceless against the into sprawling camps with no infrastructure and More than 481,300 declared cases have been registered in rebel-held town of Binnish in Syria's north-western virus. Medical facilities in Idlib have been decimated increasingly unsanitary conditions. Medics are 182 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged Idlib province, yesterday (26), as part of the in targeted airstrikes over the years. Doctors are raising awareness about hygiene requirements, in China in December. Of these cases, at least 107,100 are now efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus already overstretched and hospital beds are in but it's a hard sell for a population reeling from the considered recovered. epidemic. The World Health Organization has short supply. A brutal Syrian government offensive effects of war. Idlib has only 1.4 doctors per 10,000 The tallies, using data collected by AFP offices from na- warned that COVID-19 is heading toward the war- -- propped up by Russia and Iran -- that was people, according to the IHD and hospitals are tional authorities and information from the World Health Or- ravaged province like a slow moving tsunami, launched in December has added more pressure already running at over-capacity, with an average ganization (WHO), likely reflect only a fraction of the actual and could claim tens of thousands of lives. Idlib's on the flailing healthcare facilities. The latest 150 occupancy rate. number of infections. Many countries are now only testing cases that require hos- Study shows pitalization. Italy, which recorded its first coronavirus death in Febru- ary, has to date declared 7,503 fatalities, with 74,386 infec- tions and 9,362 people recovered. Like Italy, Spain also has more fatalities than China with 4,089, as well as having 56,188 infections. US virus deaths may top 80,000 China -- excluding Hong Kong and Macau -- has to date de- clared 3,287 deaths and 81,285 cases, with 74,051 recoveries. The country declared 67 new cases and six new fatalities since Wednesday (25). The other worst-hit countries are Iran with 2,234 fatalities despite confinement and 29,406 cases, and France with 1,331 deaths and 25,233 cases. PARIS - COVID-19 could lead to level. week of April. the worse -- if people ease up on so- Since 1900 GMT Wednesday, the West Bank and Croatia more than 80,000 deaths in the These include hospitalization and During the epidemic peak -- also cial distancing or relax with other announced their first deaths. US and overwhelm hospital capac- mortality rates, as well as patient set for some point in April -- as many precautions." By continent, Europe has listed 258,068 cases and 14,640 ity nationally as soon as early April date in terms of age, gender and pre- as 2,300 patients could die every The analysis estimated that ap- deaths to date, Asia 101,004 cases and 3,642 deaths and the even if social distancing measures existing health problems. day, according to the IHME models. proximately 81,000 people in the Middle East 35,324 cases and 2,281 deaths. are respected, new research showed Specifically, they looked at the This was the case even if the popu- US will die from the virus over the The US and Canada together have declared 72,606 cases yesterday (26). time lag between the first fatal cas- lation adhered to strict social dis- coming four months. with 1,082 deaths, Latin America and the Caribbean 8,439 The US death toll for the pandem- es and public interventions such as tancing measures. Estimates ranged between 38,000 cases with 141 deaths, Africa 2,748 cases with 73 deaths and ic has already soared past 1,000, shuttering schools and businesses. "Our estimated trajectory of COV- and more than 160,000. Oceania 3,111 cases with 14 deaths. with 68,000 confirmed infections. They then looked at each Ameri- ID-19 deaths assumes continued and It forecast that a total of 21 US -AFP Forecasters at the Institute for can state's ICU bed and ventilator uninterrupted vigilance by the gen- states will need more ICU beds than Health Metrics and Evaluation capacity. eral public, hospital workers, and are currently available and that 12 (IHME) at the University of Wash- The analysis warned that based government agencies," said Christo- states may need to increase their ington's School of Medicine ana- on current trends, demand for both pher Murray, IHME director. capacity by 50% or more to accom- US indicts Maduro of drug trafficking lyzed the latest COVID-19 data at would far exceed capacity for COV- "The trajectory of the pandemic modate patient needs. a local, national and international ID-19 patients as early as the second will change -- and dramatically for -AFP WASHINGTON — President Nicolás Maduro of Vene- zuela was charged in the United States yesterday (26) with federal drug trafficking crimes after an investigation by federal authorities in Washington, New York and Florida. The indictment of a head of state was highly unusual and served as an escalation of the Trump administration’s cam- US unemployment figures surge to record 3.3 million paign to pressure Maduro to leave office after his widely WASHINGTON - More than three faster than government statistics “A large part of the economy just the economic cataclysm in progress. disputed re-election in 2018. Maduro has led Venezuela’s million people filed for unemploy- can keep track. collapsed,” said Ben Herzon, execu- Even comparatively optimistic fore- economy into shambles and prompted an exodus of mil- ment benefits last week, sending Just three weeks ago, barely tive director of IHS Markit, a busi- casters expect millions of lost jobs, lions of people into neighbouring countries. a collective shudder throughout 200,000 people applied for jobless ness data and analytics firm. and with them foreclosures, evic- Attorney General William Barr announced the charges the economy unlike anything that benefits, a historically low number. The worst could be yet to come. tions and bankruptcies. Thousands along with the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Americans have experienced. In the half-century that the govern- Herzon said he expected a similarly of businesses have closed in re- Division and the top federal prosecutors in New York and The report, released by the La- ment has tracked applications, the large number next Thursday (April sponse to the pandemic, and many Miami. bour Department yesterday (26), worst week ever, with 695,000 so- 2), when the Labour Department will never reopen. Some economists In addition to Maduro, charges were announced against provides some of the first hard data called initial claims, had been in Oc- releases its report on new claims say the decline in gross domestic nearly a dozen others, including the Venezuelan govern- on the economic toll of the coro- tober 1982. filed this week. product this year could rival the ment and intelligence officials and members of the largest navirus pandemic, which has shut Yesterday’s figure of nearly 3.3 Yesterday’s unemployment num- worst years of the Great Depression.