News

7.5mn Pfizer vaccines expired!

Published

2 years ago

June 27, 2023

editor

Over 7.5 million Pfizer vaccines brought to Sri Lanka during the Covid-19 pandemic are to be destroyed since they have expired.

The stocks of the expired vaccines are now stored in a container outside the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) premises.

Following the spread of Covid-19, 20,088,050 doses of Pfizer vaccine were brought to Sri Lanka on several occasions between July and December of 2021.

A total of 7.5 million unused Pfizer vaccines were stored in the NBTS’s freezers for about seven months.

Arrangements were made to remove the vaccine stock from October 31 last year after it expired.

However, since these vaccines were stored in the storage facilities of the NBTS, the institution had to pay an additional electricity bill of nearly one million rupees.

Accordingly, the NBTS has informed the Epidemiology Unit on May 31 to get this stock of vaccines removed.

On the same day, the NBTS has disconnected the supply of electricity to the storage facility.

The authorities of the Epidemiology Unit last week removed the vaccine stock from the NBTS storage and stored it in a container outside the NBTS premises.

The Epidemiology Unit has requested the NBTS to give them some time to remove the vaccines container from the premises.

News

Former Eastern Provincial Council member arrested

Published

6 hours ago

July 6, 2025

editor

Ampara District Organizer of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal party and former member of the Eastern Provincial Council K. Pushpakumar alias Iniya Bharathi has been arrested.

He was arrested over the abduction and disappearance of the former Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University Prof. Subramaniyam Ravindranath.

Sivanathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, the leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and former State Minister, was arrested by the Colombo Criminal Investigation Department at his office in Batticaloa on April 8, over this incident.

He was later detained for 3 months under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Iniya Bharathi, also known as Kumaraswamy Pushpakumar, was arrested based on information revealed during the interrogation of Pillayan.

News

e-Revenue Licence system down due to technical glitch, ICTA says

Published

6 hours ago

July 6, 2025

editor

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) said the electronic Revenue Licence system (eRL 2.0) is currently unavailable due to a critical technical infrastructure issue.

According to the ICTA, the disruption began on July 3, 2025, and has made vehicle revenue licence issuing services inaccessible.

The unavailability is expected to continue until July 9, 2025.

The ICTA expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the public and assured that technical teams are working urgently to resolve the issue.

The agency also said that further updates will be shared as work progresses, with an official notice to be issued once services are restored.