Colombo, March 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) Sri Lanka's National Elections Commission (EC) was continuing with its preparations for the April 25 parliamentary polls despite the number of coronavirus cases in the island nation rose to two.
The Commission said that it has not been informed yet of any plan to postpone the election after the second case was confirmed on Thursday.
Commission member S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole told the Daily Mirror on Friday that the election schedule is based on the 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.
Until such a proclamation is issued, the Commission said it will go ahead with its plans to hold the polls on April 25.
Meanwhile, the second coronavirus case is a 44-year-old Sri Lankan man who shared an accommodation with the first patient, a 52-year-old tour guide.
While both individuals were currently receiving treatment at Colombo's Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), the Health Services Director General Anil Jasinghe said the first patient's son has not tested positive, despite reports being circulated online, reports the Daily Financial Times.
However, the first patient's family is being home-quarantined, with daily monitoring taking place.
In addition to this, a driver connected to the first patient has also been home-quarantined.
In South Asia, India (75), Pakistan (20), Bhutan (one), Maldives (two), Afghanistan (seven) and Nepal (one), Bangladesh (three) have reported cases.
On Thursday, India became the first country in the region to report a death due to the disease.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz