Representatives of political parties have agreed not to conduct any May Day rallies or processions this year, due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country.

Army Commander General Shavendra Silva stated that all political party representatives had met at the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID 19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) and agreed on this matter.

The meeting was held to discuss the probability of staging May Day rallies and events on the 01st of May, due to the possibility for the COVID-19 virus to spread in the country once again. 

The meeting held at the NOCPCO was attended by representatives of all political parties, the Director General of Health Services Dr Asela Gunawardene and Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Army General Shavendra Silva.

During the discussion, it was unanimously decided with the consent of all party representatives not to hold May Day rallies and meetings of all parties, considering the current situation pertaining to the spread of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka.

The Army Commander had explained the series of developments as regards COVID-19 transmission in Sri Lanka in the past year quoting statistics, pertaining to numbers of deaths, infections, recoveries, quarantine procedures, etc. 

He also told the meeting about the expected outcome of the behavioural patterns of the masses during the most recent New Year season probably during the first two weeks of May as well as emerging trends at global level with special focus on neighbouring countries.

The meeting educated the attendees on fast changing variants of the virus, nature of its transmission in other countries, emergence of new clusters and risks involved, etc, and also the latest tendency it has had in infecting the majority of youngsters in society, a complete deviation from the previous variants that began from March 2020.

Director General of Health Services, Dr Asela Gunawardena, Medical experts and specialists also briefed on the status quo and pointed out the risks, involved in mass gatherings.

Representatives of those political parties and trade unions after listening to the Head NOCPCO and medical specialists’ explanations voiced their agreement and unanimously decided to dispense with their proposed and planned May Day arrangements in the best interests of the country and its people.

Representative political and trade union officials who took part in this special NOCPCO meeting included Minister of Transport Gamini Lokuge, MPs S.M Marikkar, Mohomad Muzammil and several other officials of political parties.

Dr Ananda Wijewickrama, Consultant Physician National Institute of Infectious Diseases IDH, Dr Sudath Samaraweera, Chief Epidemiologist, Professor Manoj Weerasinghe, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Dr Rohitha Muthugala, Consultant Epidemiologist - Ministry of Health, Dr Nadeeka Janage, Consultant Epidemiologist - Ministry of Health, Professor Athula Sumathipala, Faculty of Health Sciences, Mr M.G Upul Rohana, President Public Health Inspectors’ Association and a few health experts were associated with the special meeting.