Ex-SL Foreign Minister dies of Covid

Colombo, Aug 25 Sri Lanka's former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera passed away after being infected with the coronavirus, local media reported.

Samaraweera had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital in capital Colombo last week after he contracted the virus, reports Xinhua news agency.

Local media quoting medical officers said Samaraweera had developed complications and suffered a cardiac arrest.

He succumbed to the virus on Tuesday.

Samaraweera, 65, had served as the Foreign Affairs Minister and Finance Minister in previous governments but stepped down from politics last year.

At the time, he was a member of the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya political party.

Sri Lanka is in the midst of a rapid third wave of the pandemic which has infected 398,801 people to date and caused 7,750 deaths.

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