The government has suspended the arrival of foreign sailors by air for crew change in ships anchored in Colombo.

Cabinet Co-Spokesperson Minister Bandula Gunawardena, speaking at the media briefing to announce Cabinet decisions today (25), said the decision was reached taking into account the detection of COVID-19 cases among the foreign crew arrivals.

The crew had reached Colombo on a chartered flight arranged by a Mumbai-based ship manager, According to The Hindu Business Line. 

Ship managers and crewing firms looking to rotate Indian crew in overseas locations had identified Doha and Colombo as hub airports through which the exercise was carried out using chartered flights.

Sri Lanka had agreed to allow Indian seafarers to stay for five days if they reach Colombo for joining a ship and seven days if they are going out of Colombo on a chartered flight, provided the flights are confirmed.

With Sri Lanka suspending crew changes, Indian ship managers are scouting for alternative sites to swap staff, with some suggesting Port Blair in Andaman and Batam in Indonesia as good candidates due to the short deviation from the main international shipping route and lower costs.

On Tuesday (23), a total of 29 who had arrived in Sri Lanka from Mumbai, India as a part of the crew of a ship.

In the meantime, the COVID-19 infections tally moved up to 2,007 today (25) after six navy men tested positive for the virus.

The total number of patients who recovered from the disease currently stands at 1,602.

-with inputs from agencies