Less than 48 hours after its release, Sri Lanka reversed its decision to ban airline passengers with recent travel history to six Gulf countries for two weeks.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka announced that the ban on air travel from Gulf countries from July 1 to July 13, which was announced on June 28, has been lifted according to a number of conditions.
The Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka, Thimiya Abiwikarama, said in a statement carried by www.colombopage.com, that according to the instructions received from the Ministry of Health and the National Operations Center to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19, passenger restrictions have been canceled for the following six countries Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait” with immediate effect on the following conditions:
• All arriving passengers must have a negative PCR test obtained within 96 hours prior to departure, and an airline must confirm this before passengers board.
• Antigen tests – the rapid test – cannot be accepted as a pre-departure test for boarding. [Read Also: No entry for a single-dose vaccinated expatriates | Kuwait News Today]
• The antigen test must be submitted from a government approved hospital/lab in the respective country along with the QR code/bar code.
• Airlines must verify the validity of test reports submitted by passengers.
• Passengers are only allowed access for hotel quarantine or via Sri Lanka Vital Tourism Route.
The General Authority of Civil Aviation of Sri Lanka said that the above-mentioned conditions will apply until further notice.
