Visitors from 8 African and 6 ME countries banned

• Passengers with a travel history to Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait, including transits, during the past 14 days banned from entering
• Restriction for African countries will be in effect from 1-31 July, for ME countries from 1-13 July
• Currently, SL has restricted passengers from 16 countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) yesterday informed all airlines that passengers with a recent travel history to eight African countries and six Middle Eastern countries would not be permitted to disembark in Sri Lanka.

CAA Director General Themiya Abeywickrama said the airlines had been informed that the ban was on passengers who had in the past 14 days travelled to Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa, and Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait – including transits – in the Middle East.

The restriction for African countries will come into effect from 12:01 a.m. on 1 July (local time in Sri Lanka) and is applicable until 11:59 p.m. on 31 July, while for the ME countries it will come into effect from 12:01 a.m. on 1 July up until 11:59 p.m. on 13 July.

Abeywickrama said the decision was taken in accordance with instructions received from the Health Ministry and National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Task Force, in light of the pandemic.

Sri Lanka has banned 16 countries so far, with the latest addition of African and Middle Eastern nations following bans on passengers with a 14-day travel history (including transit) from India and Vietnam.

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in May were recorded at 1,497 persons. Africa is a minor source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with the continent accounting for 0.7% of the total traffic received in May.

Since the reopening of borders on 21 January, Sri Lanka has seen 15,294 tourist arrivals.