Govt. reveals reason for banning arrivals from Gulf countries

June 30, 2021 at 11:38 AM

The Government says a high number of passengers from the Middle East testing positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Sri Lanka was the key reason to impose a 02-week travel ban on passengers from several Gulf countries, starting from 1st July.

Cabinet co-spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said on Tuesday (29) that nearly 110 passengers who had arrived on Monday (28) had tested positive.

“This is of great concern. They arrive with negative PCR test results. Now it is a question of the validity of those PCR tests. Passengers are testing positive upon arrival after a flight of between 3-4 hours. There is an issue and concerns have been raised in this regard,” he said. 

Minister Rambukwella said therefore a decision was taken to ban arrivals from certain Gulf countries on the advise of the National Covid Task Force and health experts. 

Sri Lanka yesterday issued a 02-week travel ban on passengers from several Gulf countries, starting from 1st July.

It was announced that the travel ban will be in effect from 0001hrs on 1st July 2021 until 2359hrs on 13th July 2021 (Local time in Sri Lanka).

Under the travel ban, passengers with a travel history in the past 14 days to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait will not be permitted to visit Sri Lanka.

However, passengers on transit from the above-mentioned countries will be permitted to land in Sri Lanka. (NewsWire)