Govt. decides to postpone repatriation till further notice

• Assures resumption of repatriation operations once local COVID-19 situation is controlled
• Nearly 40,000 stranded Sri Lankan citizens from 122 countries have returned so far
• BIA employees to undergo PCR tests after discovery of COVID-19 positive worker
• All outbound travellers must be in possession of PCR test result prior to departure

By Charumini de Silva

Given the sudden spike in COVID-19 local infections, the Government yesterday decided to postpone all repatriation flights until further notice.

“All repatriation flights have been rescheduled to a future date.  Once the local condition is under control, we will resume the repatriation operations immediately,” Foreign Ministry on COVID-19 Action and Director General East Asia Kandeepan Balasubramaniam told Daily FT.

The decision to reschedule flights was arrived at after considering the rising number of COVID-19 infected people within the country and as a precautionary measure to ensure that there are sufficient medical and quarantine facilities available to treat the virus infected.

According to him, nearly 40,000 stranded Sri Lankan citizens from 122 counties have returned to the country thus far.

In addition, Daily FT learns that the Government is also considering completely shutting down operations at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) including departures until further notice after a minor staff employee tested positive for the virus.

“Given the situation, we took a decision to close all operations at the airport and conduct PCR tests for all employees. Over 60 PCR tests for employees were conducted yesterday at the airport premises,” sources told Daily FT on condition of anonymity.

The BIA separately announced yesterday all outbound travellers must be in possession of a PCR test result that was obtained 72 hours prior to the departure.

Repatriation flights were operating to both BIA in Katunayake and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) in Hambantota.

On Monday, airport authorities restrained the entry of outsiders to the duty-free shopping complex of the BIA and employees from Divulapitiya and Minuwngoda areas until further notice, as a preventive measure after identifying the first two new COVID-19 persons in Gampaha District after two months within the country. 

On Monday evening, Sri Lanka Police extended quarantine curfew to the Gampaha Police jurisdiction in addition to the Divulapitiya, Minuwangoda, and Veyangoda Police divisions, while it was further extended yesterday to Ja-Ela, Seeduwa, Negombo, Kirindiwela, Dompe, Pugoda, Ganemulla, Weeragula, Weliveriya, Nitambuwa, Mirigama, Pallewella, Yakkala, Kandana, Malwathuhiripitiya and Seeduwa.