Sri Lanka halts all passenger arrivals at BIA

Sri Lanka will suspend passenger arrivals from all countries at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake starting from tomorrow (18).

Arrival of passengers will accordingly be halted until March 31, however, it is reported that cargo, departures and transit are to be continued.

The decision came as a measure to restrict the entry of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, into the country.

Previously, the Jaffna International Airport (JIA) was shut down for two weeks.

Sri Lanka has diagnosed a total of 28 positive coronavirus cases within 6 days. The first Sri Lankan coronavirus patient in the country was identified on March 11.