The Government is to bring down more Sri Lankans who got stranded in various world capitals, as the raging Covid 19 pandemic forced many countries to resort to extreme measures and close their borders to contain the threat.
The authorities which will be responsible for this operation are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Department of Civil Aviation, Airport and Aviation (Sri Lanka) Ltd and a host of others. Nearly 5,000 Lankans are to be brought down in batches, a majority of them students, Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services( Sri Lanka) Ltd Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri told our sister paper, the Daily News yesterday.
The Foreign Ministry, contacted by the Sunday Observer however declined to commit to a number, but affirmed that plans were afoot to repatriate those who have appealed to come back to Sri Lanka, most of them students stranded in South Asian destinations. A senior Foreign Ministry official said, ”the immediate focus is on students in South Asia who are deemed the most vulnerable.”
This follows 31 Sri Lankan students who have already been flown to Sri Lanka. He said these Lankans will be brought to the country in batches of 700-800 and their travel records would be monitored meticulously, as to where they have been and who they have kept company with, he said. A novel feature of the exercise is that there will be a trial Quarantine tunnel which will be placed at the entrance of the Bandaranaike International Airport and disinfect all incoming passengers.
The AASL Chief also said there will be around 200 AASL Staff deployed for the handling of these arrivals which will have to be done with extreme care as the AASL staff would also be prone to Coronavirus attacks.
Meanwhile a Sri Lankan employee based in Ethiopia said there are around a thousand Sri Lankan workers stranded in the country. They are working for foreign companies in apparel, telecom, education and construction companies.
“Health standards in Ethiopia is very low and social distancing is not practised,” said Sujeeva Rohantha from Addis Ababa.
“We have also contacted the Sri Lankan embassy but have not received any positive responses.”
“We appeal to the Si Lankan Government to bring us home.”
A group of students in Belarus have also requested to come back home since they believe the situation there could get worse with no strict regulations to contain the virus practised by the people. There are 850 Sri Lankan students residing in the Republic of Belarus, some of them medical students with VitebskState Medical University, Grodno State Medical University and Gomel State Medical University.