Countries tighten borders amid Coronavirus fears

Colombo (News 1st) - The State of Qatar has temporarily suspended entry into the country from 14 different countries including Sri Lanka. Entry into Qatar has been temporarily suspended for Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Syria and Thailand. Speaking to News 1st, Rasika Jayasinghe, Counsellor of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Doha stated that no Sri Lankans have been suspected of having contracted Covid 19. He added that the travel ban does not apply for transit passengers. Kuwait has decided to temporarily suspend flights from Sri Lanka and six other countries, until the 12th of this month. Sri Lanka’s national carrier, SriLankan Airlines today announced that that the flights to Kuwait have been canceled due to restrictions imposed by the Kuwait Government. Accordingly, Flight UL229 from Colombo (CMB) to Kuwait (KWI) and Flight UL230 from Kuwait (KWI) to Colombo (CMB) from 08th to 12th March have been canceled. SriLankan has also canceled its flights to Jeddah from March 15th to April 30th, following restrictions being set in place by the Saudi government on the entry of foreign nationals into the country. SriLankan Airlines also said it is temporarily suspending its services between Sri Lanka and China from 10th March to 30th April 2020, due to current market conditions driven by a significant reduction in worldwide travel to and from China. Saudi Arabia suspended aircraft and ship services today with nine countries amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. The Saudi government has temporarily banned citizens and foreigners living in Saudi Arabia from traveling to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, South Korea, Egypt, Italy and Iraq. The Saudi Higher Education Ministry temporarily shut all schools and colleges until further notice to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. According to Foreign media, 11 corona cases were reported in Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi government locked down the Shia Qatif region over coronavirus fears. The Maldives has temporarily barred travelers from five countries with effect tomorrow as a precaution against the rapidly spreading coronavirus. The ban covers Bangladesh, China, Iran, South Korea and Italy.