Sri Lanka’s defence secretary admitted that not all foreign arrivals have been willing to go into mandated quarantine at detention centres that the military has constructed, in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

“We also had to face objections by some passengers, who arrived from COVID- 19 hit countries, when they were asked to undergo 14-days quarantine process,” admitted Kamal Gunaratne, Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused defence secretary.

The head of the Sri Lankan army called on the public to trust the security forces and boasted of its military victory that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians, as it continued running detention centres and leading the regime’s current coronavirus counter-strategy. 

Shavendra Silva, who is currently subject to US travel sanctions over his role in overseeing war crimes, made a special announcement this week, where he once more called for public co-operation with the armed forces. 

The total number of people currently infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus has now risen to 10 in Sri Lanka, as the foreign ministry confirmed the family member of an officer was one of those diagnosed positive.

In a statement this morning, the Ministry of Foreign Relations confirmed that “one of the family members of an officer of the Foreign Ministry” has tested positive and since Friday the officer concerned has been self quarantined.

Tamil women “have been protesting for the past three years, demanding army returns their land confiscated during the civil war,” Al Jazeera reports.

Chandraleela Jasinthan and her neighbours were forced out of their homes during the last days of the civil war. 10 years later and the army is still occupying their land.

“For more than three years, Jasinthan and dozens of other women in Keppapilavu have held one of the longest protests in Sri Lanka’s history at the entrance to an army camp they say was built on their ancestral land.”

The Sri Lankan military has begun quarantining foreign arrivals in detention centres hundreds of miles away from Colombo and in the Tamil North-East, as part of moves to tackle the spread of the coronavirus despite public health concerns and Tamil opposition.

In Vavuniya, the Sri Lankan army began quarantining arrivals from abroad by sending them to the Pampaimadu Army Camp.

At least six people have been arrested by Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force earlier today after locals protested against the transfer of a patient suspected of having coronavirus to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.

Sri Lanka’s Election Commission said preparations for parliamentary elections that are scheduled next month are continuing, despite rising numbers of COVID-19 coronavirus cases on the island.

Commission member S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole told the Daily Mirror that the election schedule is based on Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary Elections Act and the date was set in motion by a presidential proclamation.

“To postpone the election, only the President can act by revoking his proclamation and issuing a new one,” Hoole said.

The commander of the Sri Lankan security forces in Jaffna met with Afghanistan’s ambassador this week, where the two reportedly discussed “nation-building and reconciliation efforts”.

The meeting comes despite Sri Lankan troops counting to occupy large swathes of land across the Tamil North-East and reports of ongoing human rights abuses. 

Queues were seen across petrol stations in the North-East today, as locals sought to stock up on essential goods in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Supermarkets and other stores across the region were unusually busy, as shoppers flocked with news that the number of coronavirus cases on the island has risen.