Sri Lanka's Health Ministry said Wednesday that over 1,000 COVID-19 cases were reported for the third consecutive day on Tuesday as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continued to spread rapidly in the country.

According to official statistics, on Tuesday 1,137 people tested positive for COVID-19, while on Monday 1,082 positive cases were reported, and 1,056 positive cases were reported on Sunday.

Sri Lanka's daily case count reached the 1,000 mark after more than 100 days, health officials said.

The government information department said in a statement that a rise in COVID-19 deaths had also been reported in recent days, with 32 deaths reported on Tuesday, taking the tally to 15,473 since March 2020.

The number of positive COVID-19 cases had reached 612,322 since March 2020. In recent days the number of infections increased due to the Omicron variant, officials from the Health Ministry told Xinhua.

A rise in hospitalizations had been reported from several areas including Colombo, and the number of oxygen-dependent patients had also risen, according to the officials.

However, there was no shortage of beds reported from hospitals and the country's health system was capable of handling the rising demand.

Sri Lanka's Health Ministry has urged people over the age of 20 to get their booster vaccine doses and encouraged people to strictly follow all health guidelines including wearing masks and maintaining social distance.