The Ministry of Health stated that the first contacts of the three Ukrainian tourists who tested positive have been identified and contained.

The development came after three persons from the first batch of tourists arriving in the country since March were tested positive for COVID19.

"We urge people not to panic, we were ready for this and the tourists were under a strict bubble," the Ministry said.

It also stated that all arrangements were in place to ensure that they do not spread the virus to society. It is still not established whether the tourists have been infected with the new strain of virus currently spreading in the UK.

However, Dr. Ravi Rannan Eliya who first cautioned the country about the possibility of Ukrainian tourists carrying the new strain of virus said this was an expected outcome.

"COVID-19 incidence is 10-20 times higher in Ukraine than in Sri Lanka. Ukraine's testing rates are abysmal (TCR=3), it doesn't quarantine international arrivals, and it does very little genomic sequencing of new cases. So, the spread of the new variant of the virus to Ukraine very likely," he added.

The union of laboratory technicians have pointed out that Sri Lanka lacks state-of-the-art analyzers to identify the new strain of coronavirus spreading in the UK.