Sri Lanka stages ‘mock election’ to test coronavirus preparedness
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka staged a mock election on Sunday to test measures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus during a parliamentary vote in August.
The poll was due to be held on April 25 but was put off and then postponed indefinitely due to the epidemic, which official figures show has infected nearly 2,000 people and killed 11.
The election commission said Wednesday the vote would be held on August 5. The island nation of 21 million people has steadily lifted its lockdown restrictions, although a night curfew remains.
The new health measures-- to be implemented at polling booths and counting centres - were trialled in four of the 22 electoral districts, commission chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told reporters. “We were very pleased to see that all those who volunteered to take part in this exercise today wore face masks,” he said.
“Officials and polling agents will be behind clear plastic screens or wear face shields. We have also ensured that voters will stand a metre apart when they queue up.” Voters will also be required to bring their own pen or pencil to mark ballot papers.
MADRID: Many European nations are further lifting painful lockdowns that have saved lives and forced caseloads down, but have also withered economies and caused misery for millions.
The EU has recommended that member states fully reopen their frontiers with each other on June 15, but the border reopenings have been far from harmoniously coordinated.
Some like Poland have done so already, with people from other European Union countries allowed to visit, and Germany said it would end land border checks on Monday.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis travelled to picturesque Santorini island on Saturday to open his country’s tourism season. “Greece is ready to welcome tourists this summer by putting safety and health as our number one priority,” he said in English.
Spain will reopen its borders to visitors from Europe’s open-border Schengen area from June 21, 10 days earlier than previously planned, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday, in a further easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
France has said it will gradually reopen to countries outside the borderless Schengen zone from July. French President Emmanuel Macron is set to give a speech on Sunday, in which he will detail plans to further relax virus restrictions.
Italy, which has been among the world’s hardest hit by the new coronavirus pandemic, reopened its borders on June 3, lifting all restrictions for travellers from within Europe.