International Affairs

Australia's second-largest city has begun a second lockdown in response to a spike in new coronavirus infections.

Zoonotic diseases - which jump from animals to humans - are increasing and will continue to do so without action to protect wildlife and preserve the environment, UN experts have warned.

A day after Britain failed to include Sri Lanka in a list of countries from where visitors will not be required to undergo a mandatory 14 day quarantine, the British Foreign Office lifted a global travel advise on a number of countries except Sri Lanka and other countries seen as unsafe because of the coronavirus.

තමාට අපහාස කළැයි ජාත්‍යන්තර සත්‍ය හා යුක්තිය ව්‍යාපාරයේ (ITJP) විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂිකා යස්මින් සුකාගෙන් රුපියල් කෝටි සියයක වන්දියක් ඉල්ලා එන්තරවාසියක් යැවූ රාජ්‍ය බුද්ධි සේවාවේ ප්‍රධානී මේජර් ජෙනරාල් සුරේෂ් සලෙයි ඇගේ කීර්ති නාමයට හානි කළ බව කියමින් මානව හිමිකම් සංවිධාන හැටක් ලිපියකට අත්සන් තබා තිබේ.

ජිනීවා යෝජනාවට සහාය නොදක්වන බව ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා රජය මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්වරිය වෙත දැනුම් දුන්නත් එම යෝජනාව දිගටම ගෙනයන බව බි‍්‍රතාන්‍ය තානාපතිනි රීටා ෆ්‍රෙන්ච් ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව අමතමින් ප‍්‍රකාශ කර ඇත.

GENEVA - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that it was discontinuing its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 after they failed to reduce mortality.

ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානයෙන් ඉවත් වන බව අමෙරිකාව, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයට නිල වශයෙන් දැනුම් දී තිබෙනවා.

Vatican City, AFP: Pope Francis on Sunday threw his support behind a UN Security Council resolution calling for a halt to conflicts to facilitate the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump kicked off a “Salute to America” Saturday night on the grounds of the White House with a speech that took on the “angry mob” as he revisited the language and themes of his address a night earlier at Mount Rushmore.

Sri Lanka and Maldives were today verified for having eliminated rubella, making them the first two countries in WHO South-East Asia Region to achieve measles and rubella elimination ahead of the 2023 target.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have formally signed a grant agreement that will see KOICA provide a $ 600,000 (Rs. 111.4 million) grant, funding and supporting the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) critical response to COVID-19 in the education sector.

The United Kingdom announced yesterday (Friday) that tourists from over 50 countries and territories will be able to visit the UK from Friday, July 10, without facing a mandatory 14-day quarantine period upon arrival.

WASHINGTON - Does the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spread through tiny aerosol particles in the air? Or is the main route of transmission the droplets people release when they talk or breathe?

Reuters: The World Health Organization reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the total rising by 212,326 in 24 hours.

Ambassador Majintha Jayesinghe presented Letters of Credence to Dr. Alexander Van der Bellen, Federal President of the Republic of Austria, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna accrediting as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka to Austria on 30 June.

Sri Lanka has called for greater regional and global efforts to address migrant health.

A report in The New York Times says a group of 239 scientists from 32 countries will publish an open letter to the World Health Organization in a scientific journal this week. The scientists want WHO to revise its recommendations about how to avoid coronavirus infection.

Morris Copeland, of the Strategic Urban Response to Guideline Education group, center, passes out kits to be distributed to residents in COVID-19 hot spots, July 1, 2020, in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami.