COLOMBO, March 11 (Xinhua) -- A 52-year-old local tour operator tested positive for the COVID-19 virus in Sri Lanka Wednesday, making him the first case detected in the island country after a Chinese national was successfully treated for the virus and released last month, the President's Office said in a statement.
Director General of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe, quoted in the statement said the tour operator had worked with an Italian tourist group.
"The patient has been sent for the quarantine process. The government has initiated gathering information regarding the patient, where he traveled in the country with the Italian group and the persons who had come into contact with him with," Dr Jasinghe said.
The government, on Tuesday, began quarantining passengers arriving from South Korea, Italy and Iran by transporting them to three quarantine centers which had been set up in Batticaloa, in the east, Hendala in the outskirts of the capital and Kandakadu in north central province.
Over 170 passengers were transported to the centers on Tuesday upon their arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport.
