All arrivals suspended at BIA from midnight

On the instructions of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, all passenger arrivals at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) would be suspended for two weeks from midnight Tuesday. 
However, no restrictions has been imposed on passengers leaving the country or for passengers in transit.   

At a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat to monitor the progress of the measures taken to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President said there should be a way to control the arrival of passengers into the country.   

“Some 3,000 passengers arrived in the country between March 1 and 9 while nearly 1,500 of them were suspected of being infected with the COVID-19. Therefore, I decided to suspend all passenger arrivals into the country. Those who had arrived in the country so far were sent to quarantine centres. There are no restrictions on those who wish to leave the country and neither is there any restriction on the arrival of cargo at the airport,” he said.  The President said 891 people who went on pilgrimage to India were waiting to return to the country.   
“Arrangements will be made to bring them back as soon as possible. For their return journey, they will be requested to arrive in New Delhi while two SriLankan flights will be sent to Delhi to bring them back,” he said.   

Commenting on the Royal-Thomian cricket encounter, where a First Officer of SriLankan Airlines  who had attended the match was tested positive to the virus, the President said he asked the organisers not to go ahead with the cricket match.   

He said though it was decided to suspend the big match he allowed it to go ahead following the request by the students and the school administration.   

“The result was that of a first officer of SriLankan airlines being tested positive to the coronavirus infection. 

He and some of the SriLankan Airlines staff have been asked to undergo the mandatory period of self-quarantine,” he said.