Jordan announces lockdown from Saturday, Sri Lanka imposes weekend curfew

Jordan will impose a countrywide lockdown from Saturday to combat the coronavirus, barring people from moving except for emergencies, the government said. The measures will apply from 7am local time (5am GMT) on Saturday until further notice.

King Abdullah has enacted an emergency decree giving the government sweeping powers to enforce an army-imposed curfew and other measures that infringe on civil and political liberties, Reuters reports.

PM Omar Razzaz had suggested the government would be forced to announce a curfew after many people failed to heed a call by the authorities not to move about. Jordan’s army sealed off the capital Amman from the rest of the country on Thursday to put its 10 million people on lockdown. The country has 69 confirmed coronavirus cases, Reuters said.

Sri Lanka imposed a nationwide weekend curfew on Friday as South Asian countries escalated efforts to check the spread of coronavirus across the densely populated region of 1.9 billion people. A police curfew took effect nationwide in Sri Lanka at 6pm (1pm GMT) on Friday and will run until 6am on Monday. Authorities say 70 people have been infected on the island.