Sri Lanka Delays Opening Of Borders For Tourists Until At Least September 1 - Ambassador

Sri Lanka has delayed the opening of its borders to tourists until at least September 1 due to uncertainties over the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. M.D. Lamawansa told Sputnik

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) Sri Lanka has delayed the opening of its borders to tourists until at least September 1 due to uncertainties over the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. M.D. Lamawansa told Sputnik.

Lawamansa said in July that Sri Lanka may open its borders to foreign tourists after August 15 and that the government was doing everything possible to accelerate this process.

"Sri Lanka is working hard to open the borders on September 1 or later ... That has been delayed due to three reasons actually. One is that there was fear of the second COVID-19 wave coming. Number two is that we had the elections and the whole country wanted to concentrate much on the elections," Lawamansa said.

A third reason for the delay is that Sri Lanka still has a large number of people waiting for repatriation from the middle Eastern countries due to the pandemic, the ambassador noted.