US based advocacy group, People for Equality and Relief in Sri Lanka (PEARL), released its third instalment of its Sinhalisation of the North-East series, focusing on the impact of state-sponsored Sinhalisation and militarisation of Seruwila-Verugal.

Data gathered by PEARL researchers in the series examines how Sinhalisation and militarisation is used to deliberately shift the demographics of Tamil and Muslim areas.

The Sri Lankan government decision to set up a coronavirus quarantine centre in Batticaloa and Kandakadu, came after protests earlier this month form Sinhala locals in Hendala, admitted Sri Lanka’s health minister.

Initially, the government had chosen the Leprosy Hospital at Hendala, which the Director-General of Health Services described as “ideal”.

^{File photograph: Malcolm Ranjith and Mahinda Rajapaksa}

The head of Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic Church called on the United Nations to immediately conduct a probe into the COVID-19 coronavirus, claiming that it is a man-made illness and those responsible should be prosecuted for “genocide”.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith claimed that the coronavirus is “the work of a rich and powerful nation”, though declined to name any particular countries. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has called on the Sri Lankan government to postpone parliamentary elections that were scheduled for next month, due to the threat posed by the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the island.

“The safety of the public is our paramount concern,” said the TNA in a statement this morning. 

"For this reason, and for the reason that all democratic aspects cannot be properly be adhered to in this abnormal situation, we request the postponement of the General Elections due to be held on 25th of April 2020,” it added.

At least two Sri Lankan soldiers have been admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital after showing signs of a potential respiratory illness, amidst concerns over a potential coronavirus outbreak.

Though preliminary tests have not indicated any positive results for coronavirus, both soldiers are currently being treated in isolated rooms at the hospital.

One of the soldiers was stationed at Mannar, whilst the other was at an army camp in Vavuniya.

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankan soldiers are stationed across the North-East, where at least two military-run quarantine centres have been constructed to detain and screen arrivals from abroad for the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) leaders today that “the elections will be held as planned”.

The Parliamentary election scheduled for April will go ahead amid concerns of the increasing numbers of COVID-19 coronavirus cases on the island.

Rajapaksa briefed measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus to SAARC leaders; he engaged in a video conference with other SAARC leaders and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi where they discussed strategies to combat the threat.

As coronavirus cases escalate across the island, hospitals and clinics across the North-East are bracing themselves for any potential outbreak, with many concerned at Colombo’s militarised and ‘politicised’ strategy.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to the Tamil Guardian, one local clinician warned that systemic racism within Sri Lankan state institutions is risking lives.

A judge in Mannar has rejected families of the disappeared in the Mannar’s mass grave case representation in court on the basis that they “do not have a legal standing to do so,” according to JDS Lanka.

British parliamentarian Theresa Villiers said that the UK needs to consider travel bans and asset freezes on Sri Lankan officials that may be implicated in war crimes, as she travelled to the UN Human Rights council to discuss accountability for mass atrocities this week.

Despite global concerns regarding the coronavirus outbreak, Villiers said she travelled to Geneva because she has “British Tamil constituents who wanted me to go to the UN session to talk to the national delegations there about the importance of human rights in Sri Lanka”.

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran said the Sri Lankan military’s decision to set up a detention centre to quarantine and screen potential patients for coronavirus “has created fear among the people living in that area” and called on Colombo to “ pay heed to the concerns of the public”.

In a Tamil-language statement released this week, the TNA MP said there was public concern after the military took over a private university in Batticaloa to quarantine arrivals from abroad.