Sri Lanka eliminates pre-departure COVID-19 testing for fully vaccinated travellers

Water canon salute given to Sri Lankan Airlines first scheduled flight to Gan International Airport in Addu City, 2017 | Photo: Maldives Insider

Sri Lanka – The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka announced today that fully vaccinated travellers arriving in Sri Lanka via airports and seaports are not required to undergo Covid-19 testing prior to departure effective 01 March 2022.

According to the statement by the Sri Lankan Civil Aviation Authority,

  • Fully Vaccinated travellers do not need to take COVID-19 tests (PCR or Rapid Antigen test) before travelling to Sri Lanka.

As different countries have different phases of vaccination, for the inbound travellers, if the “recommended doses” of the COVID-19 vaccination are completed and depart from abroad two weeks after completion of vaccination, they will be considered as “Fully Vaccinated”.

Recommended doses to consider as fully vaccinated traveller:

If the traveller is vaccinated with a 2-dose vaccine, or a recommended combination of them, traveller must have had both doses to be considered as fully vaccinated for travel to Sri Lanka

If the traveller had an approved one dose vaccine (e.g. Janssen vaccine), traveller is considered as fully vaccinated.

  • Children of eighteen years and below, who have obtained at least a single dose of a recognized vaccine, will be considered as “Fully Vaccinated” if departed from abroad two weeks after completion of vaccination.
  • Travellers with a past history of COVID-19 infection where infection was detected between 7 days to 6 months before the date of departure with at least a single dose of a two dose vaccine will be exempted from Pre departure COVID-19 test. They should carry a diagnosis card or verifiable evidence or previously positive COVID-19 test report (PCR report or Rapid Antigen Test report) as a proof of past history of illness (in English). They should depart two weeks after vaccination and also seven days after the infection.
  • 4. Travellers with a history of COVID-19 infection more than 6 months before the date of departure with a single dose of a two dose vaccine should carry a negative pre departure COVID-19 test report as mentioned in Section 05. They should depart two weeks after vaccination.
  • 5. All other travellers of twelve years and above arriving in Sri Lanka who are NOT Fully Vaccinated should mandatorily carry a negative COVID-19 PCR test report in English language done within 72 hours prior to embarkation OR Rapid Antigen Test report (self-swabs are disallowed) in English language done within 48 hours prior to embarkation.

All travellers who have obtained COVID-19 vaccines should carry proof of vaccination in English throughout their travel. All the travellers who have a past history of COVID-19 infection should depart after 7 days of onset of infection.