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COVID upsurge in Ukraine, but tourists will continue to come
Ukrainian tourists who are part of Sri Lanka’s “experiment to reopen the country for tourists” will continue to arrive on chartered flights till January 24 despite a partial lockdown being imposed in the Eastern European nation owing to a spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths.
The lockdown came into effect on Friday and will continue till January 25, the day before the last chartered flight of Ukrainian tourists is due to arrive in Sri Lanka. Arrivals will only be stopped if the COVID-19 Task Force decides that people of a particularly country must be barred from entry, said a spokesman for Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga. So far, only arrivals from England have been banned.
Exotic Holidays, Deluxe and Ceylon My Dreams — the three local tour operators — are continuing to coordinate with the three Ukrainian counterparts Kompas, Join Up, and Travel Professional Group (TPG). Meanwhile, Udayanga Weeratunga, who holds the position of Coordinating Secretary to the Prime Minister, continues to provide publicity to the initiative on social and mainstream media.
But after the furor of the previous week–when a Yala safari jeep driver’s strong criticism went viral on the internet — measures have been taken to streamline the programme. The driver said he and at least 27 other drivers had been tossed into quarantine (without prior notice) after chauffeuring the first group of Ukrainians in the park.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) also said it had not been given prior notice of visits by the first group to Mirissa and Yala. Although Mr Weeratunga later publicly denied this, the Sunday Times confirmed that the SLTDA had only been told they would do site visits every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. What had been required was a detailed itinerary, which was not provided. And, contrary to what had been stated, the visits to Mirissa and Yala took place on a Saturday–and not on any of the days specified.
However, much has changed after widespread public censure of the manner in which the Ukrainian programme was being handled. After a majority of tourism industry unions also backed the SLTDA and Sri Lanka Tourism’s insistence that a proper strategy be followed–instead of the ad hoc one espoused by Mr Weeratunga–measures are being taken.
Health guidelines are now being followed to the letter, tourism authorities said, although exception approval had been given to allow the Ukrainians in the country at the time out of isolation without a second PCR.
But all future arrivals must have a second PCR. The guideline states that it is mandatory to pay for two PCR tests if the visit is up to seven days or three PCR tests if it is more than seven days as decided by the Medical Officer of Health.
The SLTDA is now given a detailed itinerary of movements, including hotels and site visits, by the tour operators. These are immediately shared with the COVID Task Force and the Health authorities, including districts and provincial officials.
The site visits will be done strictly through the regulator after the date, time and place are notified. A visit is scheduled to Kandy today and again to Yala on Wednesday. “At all times, we know where they are,” said a tourism official.
Ticket counters will have screens and tickets will be bought by the tour operator. The tourists cannot get out. Drivers, guides and other staff must be in full personal protective equipment (PPE). If they are not, they will be quarantined for 14 days. The tour operators are responsible for the provision of PPEs.
Communication with the regulator is through the tour operators, although Mr Weeratunga has been publishing accounts of the visits on his Facebook account. Despite having had close contact with the incoming Ukrainian teams, he has not been in isolation.
After the first on-arrival PCR, the tourists must contain their movements within their respective hotels until the results are released. This must be monitored on CCTV and if there is direct contact with the visitors, staff will be isolated.
Meanwhile, the 28 drivers who underwent isolation will now be used in future tours with the Ukrainian teams. They were still in isolation last week.
The country will open to all tourists on January 21. The Immigration Department is upgrading its systems to allow increased electronic travel authorisations (ETAs). But arrivals are likely to be limited to 5,000 at the start because that the number of PCR tests the private sector can allocate to the tourism sector (the total number of tests it can conduct at present is 7,000).
Separately, the Tourism Mobile App which was to be included in the Immigration online visa application has finally been approved by the Cabinet and is now being integrated. It will, among other things, ensure hotel bookings are prepaid for the full quarantine period stipulated by the Health Ministry, recover the cost of PCR tests, recover COVID-19 insurance premiums and provide advance information on hotel bookings to health officials at district level.
| PCR test false, Ukrainian tourist complains A Ukrainian tourist who arrived in the first group circulated a message via WhatsApp after he and his family were isolated in their room following positive PCR tests for two of them. “I am inclined to believe that we are locked in the room, because of the false positive result I received at the beginning,” Denis Kolivashko wrote from room 318 of Cinnamon Bey. “All further ‘so-called positive result of my son’ was fabricated to deliberately keep our family isolated ‘just in case’.” “The first false positive result I got was due to virus contamination of the specimen during collection,” he claimed. “The problem is: in one room, up to 30 people were accumulated, from whom the laboratory assistant took an oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal smear in turn. Thus, samples taken from healthy people could be contaminated from sick people standing in line or from the laboratory staff.” “Also, after taking swabs, the samples are not stored at a temperature of 2 °C to 8. 0 °C, but simply folded into a box at a temperature of 28 °C,” he continued. “I kindly ask you to help us in this situation. My son is getting crazy because of being closed in the room since the beginning of the arrival.” If confirmed, his message raises serious questions about the manner in which PRC tests are conducted on groups of tourists. | |