Colombo: Sri Lankan authorities announced that a night curfew which was imposed in the island nation on June 13, would be lifted completely due to the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A nationwide 24-hour curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of the virus since March 20 but it was later imposed from 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. effective from June 13, reports Xinhua news agency.

Sri Lanka has to date detected over 2,000 positive COVID-19 patients, out of which over 1,600 have recovered.

The government last week said that no public transmission of the virus had been reported since April 30 and the virus was now contained within the quarantine centres only.

Over recent days, Sri Lanka has detected a large number of positive patients among those being repatriated from overseas.

However, these nationals have had no contact with society as they are transported from the airport directly to hospitals or quarantine centres.