News in Brief

  New Military Spokesman Appointed Brigadier Nilantha Premaratne has been appointed as the new Media Spokesman of the Sri Lanka Army He takes over from Brigadier Chandana Wickremesinghe, who served as the Spokesman until today.   21 policemen at the Dalada Maligawa tested positive for Covid19 Twenty-one Police personnel attached to the Dalada Maligawa (The precincts of the Sacred Tooth Relic) have been tested positive for Covid 19. 232 Policemen deployed to provide security to the area have now been sent for quarantine while a new contingent of Policemen drawn from various Police Stations in the region have been posted to provide Security to the Dalada Maligawa   Parliament to meet tomorrow and Wednesday Party leaders decided that Parliament should meet tomorrow and Wednesday under strict health guide- lines. This is after few more officials attached to Parliament have been tested positive for Covid19.Few Parliamentarians at present are undergoing treatment at Covid 19 Quarantine centers after they were found infected for Covid 19.   Ranil to continue as UNP Leader Former Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will continue at the Party Leader of the UNP for another six months according to Party Sources. The earlier indications were that he would step down in January paving the way for a suitable candidate. After having learnt the new development party stalwarts such as Navin Dissanayake, Ravi Karunanayake and Arjuna Ranatunga and several others are contemplating quitting the UNP altogether.   Astra Zeneca vaccine for Sri Lanka? The Covid 19 vaccine is likely to rollout in Sri Lanka at the end of February according to Health ministry Officials. It is more likely to be the Astra Zeneca vaccine developed by the Oxford University.