By Vyshnavy Velrajh
The Government has permitted selected passengers to return to Sri Lanka despite repatriation flights that operated earlier during the coronavirus pandemic being temporarily halted.
Additional Secretary to the President Admiral Jayanath Colombage told the Colombo Gazette flights have been permitted to operate to enable the return of diplomats, employees of international organizations and the Board of Investment (BOI), seafarers, and Military personnel.
“The group consists of Sri Lankan diplomats who are returning after completing their tenure, foreign diplomats stationed in Sri Lanka, seafarers signing off from cruise ships and Military personnel returning home, and international organizations and BOI workers involved in local projects’, he explained.
Admiral Colombage mentioned this when inquired on a flight that had arrived from Doha, Qatar this morning.
The National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 said flight QR668 arrived today in Sri Lanka from Doha carrying 30 passengers, adding that the passengers have been placed in Army-run quarantine centres.
Clarifying that this was not a repatriation flight, Admiral Jayanath Colombage said all repatriation flights were halted with the last flight from the Maldives on 15 July.
He said repatriation flights were halted due to a shortage in quarantine centres following the coronavirus outbreak at the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre. (Colombo Gazette)