COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka on Tuesday closed schools in the capital and suburbs for four days and issued work-from-home plans for government workers in the latest moves to contain the rising number of COVID-19 positive cases.

After weeks of reporting fewer than 300 new cases per day, Sri Lanka confirmed 997 during the past 24 hours. The highest number were in the Colombo district which includes the capital.

Health officials have warned of a rapid increase to come because people engaged in crowded celebrations and shopping during the traditional new year festival that fell on April 14.

From Tuesday, half of state employees would be called to offices while the balance would work from home.

Already, the government has imposed lockdowns on nearly a dozen of villages in different parts of the country.

Sri Lanka has reported more than 102,376 virus cases with 642 fatalities.