Sri Lanka imposes travel restrictions on air passengers amid COVID crisis

On Sunday, Sri Lanka imposed travel restrictions on the number of air passengers arriving in the country for two weeks in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Sri Lanka said, "It has been decided to limit the number of passengers that can arrive from one flight to 75," as per Colombo Page reports. 

This limitation will be effective from May 3 for a period of 14 days. According to the CAA, All airlines have been informed about this decision. After two weeks, the situation in the country will be taken into consideration and a decision will be made whether to lift the restrictions or impose more stringent ones.

According to the existing prohibitions, the number of passengers that can be flown in an aircraft is 75 Sri Lankan citizens and an addiitonal number of foreigners. However, as per Colombo Page reports, the total number of arrivals on an aircraft has been limited to 75 due to the spiralling COVID-19 cases. 

Mounting COVID-19 crisis in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's health authorities have issued stringent curbs to regulate the rapid multiplication of COVID-19 contagions. Events and public gatherings held at closed and open venues are prohibited until further notice. New guidelines include banning wedding receptions and gatherings at religious sites were issued so as to prevent the spread while the Island nation continued to record a spike in daily infections. 

Army Commander General Shavendra Silva on Sunday said, 

All gatherings, parties, weddings, etc. that are prohibited should NOT be moved to homes or other locations." He added, "the general public is urged to refrain from carrying out visits to other homes and entertaining guests, for a short period, in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Sri Lanka recorded 1,891 fresh COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday alone. Active cases stand at 13,824 and 696 people have succumbed to the infection. While the tally of persons recovered in the Island nation stands at 97,242, a total of 111,753 people have been infected so far. 

About 23000 RT-PCR tests are collected per day and as per reports, the average PCR positivity rate is 8%. Sri Lankan government has completely (two doses) vaccinated 88,088 persons so far.