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COLOMBO: Sri Lanka welcomed its first foreign tourists in nine months on Monday (December 28), even as a new, deadlier strain of the coronavirus took over the island.
A charter flight carrying 185 passengers from Ukraine landed at a little-used airport south of Colombo, which has been hit by a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
In less than three months, the official number of coronavirus deaths in Sri Lanka has risen from 13 to 194, while the number of infections has risen from 3,300 to more than 41,000.
Still, authorities hope that Ukraine’s arrivals will be the first of thousands of foreigners to visit, easing pressure on the tourism-dependent economy that shut down in March.
Visitors, who had to present coronavirus-free certificates prior to departure, were re-screened upon arrival at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.
They will be confined to their hotels for the duration of their vacation.
A SkyUp Airlines Airbus is seen after landing at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala on December 28, 2020. Sri Lanka welcomed its first foreign tourists in nine months on December 28 (Photo: AFP / STR).
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“This is a pilot project to test our systems,” said government spokesman Ramesh Pathirana, adding that there will be a review after a month.
Sri Lanka’s international borders remain closed, with the exception of repatriation flights and charter flights approved by local health authorities.
But Sri Lanka is also slated to host a two-test cricket tour of England next month.
The measures come despite authorities announcing a deadlier strain of coronavirus.
The Minister of State for the control of COVID-19, Sudarshini Fernandopulle, said that the strain was more contagious than the one that spread in Sri Lanka between January and October.
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