Temporary halt in repatriation of Sri Lankans

Temporary halt in repatriation of Sri Lankans

Sri Lanka has decided to temporarily halt the repatriation of its nationals from overseas after a record 300 people were tested COVID positive on Friday. Additional Secretary to the President Jayantha Colambage said, the process will be temporarily halted from Tuesday the 14th of July due to the COVID outbreak reported at a Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre.

As the number of patients increases the Government will require more quarantine centres to place people in quarantine. Likewise, Sri Lankans being repatriated from overseas will also be required to be placed in quarantine centres, and this is causing an issue, he said.

He said more than some 49,000 Sri Lankans living abroad have sought to return to Sri Lanka and of them some 15,500 had already arrived here.

A total of 648 Sri Lankans stranded in the UK, Australia and the Maldives had landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) by three separate SriLankan Airline flights yesterday and this morning, sources said.

These include Sri Lankan students and migrant workers who were stranded in those countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Army chief Shavendra Silva said the military-run Kandakadu facility in the east of the island was made a hospital after a record number of people there tested positive for the virus since Thursday.

“The quarantine centre was made a field hospital that can treat up to 500 patients,” Silva said in a statement.