President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stressed that the measures to contain the local outbreak of COVID-19 will follow despite the curfew being relaxed in several areas from tomorrow.

He also noted that the objective of relaxing the curfew is to reactivate the economy.

Taking to his official Twitter account, the President urged the public that it is imperative to adhere to the health guidelines & act responsibly for the safety of society at large.

The government Saturday (18) decided to relax the ongoing curfew, which was imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, in several districts and police areas.

Accordingly, the curfew for 18 districts will be relaxed from 5.00 am to 8.00 pm on a daily basis starting from tomorrow, until further notice.

The government has decided not to relax curfew imposed in Alawathugoda, Akurana, Warakapola and Akkaraipattu police areas in Kandy, Kegalle and Ampara districts. However, the curfew for the rest of the police areas in these three districts will be lifted at 5.00 am and re-imposed at 8.00 pm from April 20.

In the meantime, curfew for several police areas in Colombo, Kalutara, Puttalam and Gampaha districts the curfew will be lifted from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm on a daily basis from April 22, except for the following police areas:

Colombo District: Kotahena, Grandpass, Bambalapitya, Keselwatte, Maradana, Gothatuwa, Mulleriyawa, Wellampitiya, Mount Lavinia, Dehiwala and Kohuwala police areas

Gampaha District: Ja-Ela, Kochchikade and Seeduwa police areas

Puttalam District: Puttalam, Marawila and Wennappuwa police areas

Kalutara District: Bandaragama, Payagala, Beruwala and Aluthgama police areas

Measures have been taken to disinfect train stations and trains today, while also certain cities underwent the disinfection process as the public transport services are scheduled to resume tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the government also issued a set of guidelines to Heads of state entities especially in the district of Colombo on the resumption of work once the curfew is lifted.