COLOMBO, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday pledged 5 million U.S. dollars to the COVID-19 emergency fund initiated for SAARC (the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries to deal with issues related to the virus, a statement from the President's Office said.

The statement said that the contribution to this fund was on a voluntary basis and such a fund was vital as the economies of each SAARC country were being severely affected by the strict measures each country has to adopt to keep the COVID-19 at bay.

On March 15, SAARC leaders held discussions via video conferencing to discuss ways of supporting each other during the outbreak of the disease in South Asia as each country was facing challenges in fighting the virus.

The statement said Sri Lanka was especially affected as the island country's tourism sector was just recovering from the terrorist attacks in April 2019.

The statement said that at the conclusion of the SAARC leaders' video conference, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated a joint effort to combat the challenges posed to the region by the virus and proposed to set up the COVID-19 emergency fund as a security blanket for the SAARC countries.

Sri Lanka has so far recorded 86 COVID-19 patients while over 200 are under observation in the designated hospitals across the country. Over 11,000 people are under quarantine. Enditem

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