4,000 quarantined after 185 Sri Lankan military men test positive

Colombo: Some 4,000 Sri Lankan Navy personnel and their families have been quarantined after at least 185 military members tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said on Tuesday. Some 181 of the virus-positive military personnel are from the Navy who were among the first responders in the island-nation's battle against the disease that has infected 588 people and claimed the lives of seven others.

Navy spokesperson Lt Commander Isuru Sooriyabandara told Efe news that the force had tracked all personnel potentially exposed to the virus and put them under isolation or quarantine. The disease erupted in the force after a sailor contracted the virus while taking part in an operation to arrest a group of curfew violators. The sailor showed no symptoms in the first week after his infection. Some 62 people who were the first contacts of the corporal have been isolated.