Quarantine-free entry for fully vaccinated international travellers

On this day the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority said that, fully vaccinated international travellers who have received the second dose of the vaccine 14 days prior to arrival will now be allowed to enter the country without undergoing quarantine.

While several restrictions remain for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated visitors, those who have been ‘double-jabbed’ will have travel restrictions eased.

This includes entry into the island without a period of quarantine other than the 24 hours required to stay in a Safe and Secure Level 1 Hotel until the on-arrival PCR test results are available.

Under current regulations all visitors to the island, whether foreign travellers or citizens, have been subject to stringent regulations. These measures have helped curb the spread of the pandemic while preventing new variants from entering the island. With the success of the National vaccination rollout programme, we are ready to commence operations as usual for fully -vaccinated arrivals and the tourism industry is well prepared to welcome our international travellers while ensuring the safety and security of our communities,” Ms. Kimarli Fernando – Chairperson, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority said.

Once the ‘Day One’ PCR test report is negative, travellers will be able to leave the Level 1 Hotel and enjoy their holiday. They will be required to undergo a PCR test once again on the seventh day during their travels at a Ministry of Health approved laboratory.

In addition, travellers will be required to produce a negative PCR test report done 72-hours prior to boarding the flight as per standard procedure, obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) via the Sri Lanka Tourism website and purchase a mandatory visitor Covid Insurance coverage costing USD 12 covering a period of 30 days and a USD 50,000 cover.

All other visitors travelling as a tourist who are either partially vaccinated or not vaccinated will have to follow standard procedure of quarantining in a Safe and Secure L1 Hotel up to 14 days; depending on the vaccination status and the duration of stay.

Travel restrictions will however still apply to certain countries, travellers with a travel history (including transit) in the past 14 days to India, South America, South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia will not be permitted to disembark in Sri Lanka until further notice. (Colombo Gazette)