Colombo, May 20 (IANS): The Sri Lankan government said that arrival of all inbound travellers into the island country will be suspended from Friday midnight to May 31 in order to prevent a further spread of Covid-19.

State Minister of Aviation and Export Zones Development, D.V. Chanaka told Xinhua news agency that the decision had been taken at the Covid-19 taskforce meeting held with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday evening.

Chanaka said all international flights would be informed of the suspension and all passenger flights would be cancelled till May 31.

"This decision has been made to combat the spread of the Covid virus in the country. All passenger arrivals will be suspended for 10 days from May 21," the Minister said.

Sri Lanka is presently in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic with the rapid spread of a new variant of the virus which has infected over 50,000 people in the month of May alone.

According to official figures, the total number of deaths recorded in Sri Lanka reached 1,051 since the pandemic broke out in the country in March 2020, while the total number of infections reached 151,343.