The total Covid-19 caseload in Sri Lanka has now risen to 12,970 following the finding of 400 new cases.

All the persons who tested positive yesterday (06) are from the clusters at the Brandix factory at Minuwangoda and the fish market at Peliyagoda, says Army commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva.

The two clusters account for as many as 9,492 cases.

Meanwhile, the Prisons Department says 23 more inmates, 20 women among them, were diagnosed with the virus at the Welikada Prison.

At a meeting yesterday, state minister Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle stressed the need to ease congestion in prisons and to expedite legal proceedings against more than 8,300 remand prisoners by obtaining their already delayed government analyst reports.

At the Fisheries Corporation, four employees who have tested positive for Covid-19 were admitted to the Welikanda Base Hospital.