25 September 2021 03:13 pm
Chaos has broken out at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) today as tourists are still being taken to hotels for quarantine procedures instead of the PCR facility established at the airport.
The PCR testing facility at the BIA was declared open by Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga on Thursday (23) and was supposed to commence for testing from today (25).
However, the rapid PCR testing had not commences even today, and tourists and transit passengers arriving at the airport were sent to hotels for quarantine purposes, as they did earlier, the airport duty manager said.
He said the PCR laboratories have been set up at the airport premises (2 kilometers away from the airport) in many of the world's most advanced airports.
After the announcement made by the government about the PCR test facilities available for tourists, chaos was reported for not providing the facilities today.
The tourists taken to hotels have to spend a maximum of four days until they receive their PCR test results. (T.K.G Kapila)