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A ban has been put in place but no specific mention of the niqab or the burka has been made
Sri Lanka banned facial coverage in public, following a series of suicide attacks that left at least 250 people dead and hundreds wounded on Easter Sunday.
President Maithripala Sisirsena said that he was using an emergency law to enforce the restriction as of Monday.
Anything that "impedes identification" will be banned to ensure national security, his office said.
The niqab and the burka – worn by Muslim women – were not specifically named.
The movement is perceived as aimed at clothing, however.
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Sri Lanka remains alert eight days after Islamist attacks on churches and hotels.
Dozens of suspects have been arrested, but local authorities have warned that more militants are still on the run.
How many people are affected?
Sri Lanka has a large and centuries-old Muslim population – out of 21 million, just under 10% are Muslim.
It is thought that only a small number of women wear the niqab covering the face, or the burka – a one-piece veil that covers the face and body.
Last week, a Sri Lankan MP proposed banning women wearing the burqa, saying it should be banned for security reasons.
According to the India Today newspaper, the All Ceylan Jamiyyathul Ulama, a Muslim religious organization in Sri Lanka, also asked women to avoid wearing a face-cover.
Over the weekend, thousands of Sri Lankan soldiers marched through the streets, protecting churches and mosques.
Sunday services were canceled across the country as a precaution, but worshipers from the capital gathered to pray in front of St. Anthony's Shrine, severely damaged during the attacks.
The number of people arrested in connection with the bloodshed has risen to 150. The Sri Lankan authorities are also looking for about 140 followers of the jihadist group "Islamic State", which said he was involved in the bombings, without giving details.
On Friday, the father and two brothers of the alleged organizer of the attacks, Zahran Hashim, were killed during an operation of the security forces.
Hashim, who blew himself up in a hotel in Colombo, founded an Islamist group, the NTJ, which, according to the authorities, is at the origin of these attacks.
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