Negative COVID-19 test result requirement for arrivals scrapped

• Likely to boost tourist arrivals to SL in coming months
• New guidelines to come into effect from March 1

Sri Lanka’s tourism sector is likely to witness an increase in the number of arrivals in the coming months as health authorities have taken steps to further ease the guidelines for entering the country.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) announced that a decision has been made to do away with the need of having negative Covid-19 test results to arrive in the country.

The announcement was made over weekend by the MoH. It said that fully vaccinated travellers entering the country during the COVID-19 pandemic do not need to take a PCR or a Rapid Antigen Test before entering Sri Lanka.

The new relaxed health guideline comes into effect from tomorrow (March 1).
The notice highlighted that as different countries have different phases of vaccinations, for the inbound travellers if the relevant ‘recommended doses’ of the COVID-19 vaccination are completed, and they depart from abroad two weeks after completion of vaccination, such travellers will be considered fully vaccinated.

Tourists must have had the recommended doses of the vaccine to be considered fully vaccinated for travel to 
Sri Lanka. 

If the traveller had an approved one dose vaccine (e.g. Janssen vaccine), the traveller is considered fully vaccinated.

Children of eighteen years and below, who have obtained at least a single dose of a recognised vaccine, will be considered as fully vaccinated’ if departed from abroad two weeks after the completion of the vaccination.
Travellers with a past history of COVID-19 where the infection was detected between seven days to six months before the date of departure with at least a single dose of a two-dose vaccine will be exempted from the pre-departure COVID-19 test.  Such travellers must carry a diagnosis card or verifiable evidence or previously positive COVID-19 test report as proof of the past history of illness (in English). They should depart two weeks after vaccination and also seven days after the infection, the MoH said.

Travellers with a history of COVID-19 infection for more than 6 months before the date of departure, with a single dose of a two-dose vaccine, should carry a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test report. They should depart two weeks after vaccination. Furthermore, all other travellers of twelve years and above arriving in Sri Lanka who are not fully vaccinated should mandatorily carry a negative COVID-19 PCR test report done within 72 hours prior to embarkation, or a Rapid Antigen Test report (self-swabs are disallowed) done within 48 hours to embarkation. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) over the last few months has repeatedly called on governments to accelerate the easing of restrictions. The Association pointed out that there is no need for COVID-19 PCR tests as the pandemic has already started to move lower to the endemic stage.

IATA called for removing all travel barriers, including quarantine and testing, for those fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine. It has stressed the need to; enable quarantine-free travel for non-vaccinated travellers with a negative pre-departure antigen test result, remove travel bans, and accelerate the easing of travel restrictions in recognition that travellers pose no greater risk for COVID-19 spread than already exists in the general population.