UK Govt. strongly advises citizens visiting SL to leave now over COVID-19 fears

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the UK has strongly advised its citizens visiting Sri Lanka to leave now, while commercial means are available.

“If you decide to remain in Sri Lanka because you have family, business or employment reasons to do so, a serious outbreak of coronavirus will place significant strain on the healthcare system and may impact on the availability of consular services. Private hospitals are not currently permitted to offer treatment for coronavirus. Flights out of Sri Lanka may also be seriously affected, and availability cannot be guaranteed should you decide to leave at a later date,” the FCO advisory said.

British citizens who are already in Sri Lanka were informed that the Government has announced that visit visas will be extended to 12 April if necessary and that they can either visit the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Colombo on 8-9 April to pay the relevant fee and get this endorsed in their passports; or complete the process at the airport on departure while warning that there could be long queues for this service at the airport.

“No new visas will be issued to British nationals currently outside Sri Lanka, and any British nationals arriving in Sri Lanka are now subject to mandatory 14-day quarantine period in military-run quarantine camps. Flights to Sri Lanka have been suspended since 19 March. If you are visiting Sri Lanka, you are strongly advised to leave now, while commercial means are available,” it said.

The advisory said that a small number of tourists have reported problems with hotels trying to cancel bookings made by foreign visitors, and some incidents of harassment and advised them to speak to their travel agent about any accommodation booking problems, and report any incidents of harassment to the Police first and then to the British High Commission.