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(UPDATE) The Government of Sri Lanka has declared a special public holiday for the next three days. The declared three-day holiday is also applicable to the private sector.

Accordingly the holiday will be in effect from tomorrow (17) until Thursday (19), the government announced.

However, this special three-day holiday will be effective for departments, corporations and state institutions excluding health, food supply, transport, essential services, banking, District Secretariats and Divisional Secretariats.

The government had requested the private sector to also grant the three-day holiday.

A decision on extending the holiday is to be considered after monitoring the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The Sri Lankan government declared Monday (March 16) a public holiday after the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose alarmingly.