Mar 07, Colombo: Visitors to Sri Lanka from the COVID-19 hot spot nations of South Korea, Italy and Iran will be directed to two quarantine centers in the Eastern Province from Monday, the Ministry of Health announced.

The Ministry of Health said during a meeting held with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday, a decision was taken to convert the Batticaloa University campus and the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Welikanda in the Eastern Province as centers to quarantine the visitors as well as Sri Lankans arriving from countries where the COVID-19 is fast spreading.

Accordingly, all people who come to Sri Lanka from Iran, South Korea and Italy, where the coronavirus is spreading, will be quarantined for 14 days.

One of the selected centers is the Batticaloa Campus, which is located in a somewhat isolated area. The private university has been in the center of controversy recently and is being under investigation. The Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Welikanda was once functioning as an operation center of the LTTE and now used as a rehabilitation center for misguided people.

The Ministry of Health said all necessary facilities for quarantine are being prepared at the two locations.

The government’s decision to convert the Leprosy Hospital in Hendala, Wattala, a suburb of Colombo into a quarantine center was met with resistance from the residents.