Over 17,457 Overseas Sri Lankans (OSL) had by Saturday noon(28 March) registered on the ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ Online Portal of the Ministry of Foreign Relations. Of these, 6773 are from the Middle East region, 1892 from Europe, 1302 from South Asia, 1028 from North America and over 6000 from other parts of the world.
The Government urges Sri Lankan expatriates who wish to return to their motherland to safely remain where they are now until the risk of the COVID-19 virus will be minimized. The Government has taken several effective initiatives to prevent the spread of the pathogen.
The Sri Lanka Embassy in Berlin has informed the Ministry that the Swiss authorities have confirmed that the Sri Lankan aged 59 years who died in Switzerland on 25 March had been tested positive for COVID-19 .
The deceased was from Punkuduthivu in Northern Province and held residence permit in Switzerland.
Ministry of Foreign Relations, Colombo, 27 March 2020
You find the original statement under this LINK.
‘Contact Sri Lanka’ an online portal jointly created by the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Information & Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) for the benefit of Overseas Sri Lankans was launched today (26 March 2020) at the Ministry of Foreign Relations. The web link is hosted on the Ministry web page www.mfa.gov.lk and also can be accessed at www.contactsrilanka.mfa.gov.lk .
Due to the spread of the Covid-19-virus in the country, it has been decided to extend the validity period of all types of visa issued to all foreigners, who are currently residing in Sri Lanka. Hence, you are kindly requested to proceed as advised below.