^{File photograph: Tourists at Mattala International Airport}

A coronavirus-positive tourist carrying the Omicron variant visited night clubs on at least two nights whilst on holiday in Sri Lanka, before departing the country said Public Health Inspectors (PHI) Union leader Upul Rohana, with fears of a possible outbreak growing.

Rohana was citing “unofficial accounts” of the tourist who he claimed had visited the country, adding “We have not yet been informed about these Omicron patients by any of the health authorities”.

At least four cases of the Omicron variant have been identified, with reports suggesting that they were from a different contact than the incident to which Rohana was referring to.

Sri Lanka’s Deputy Director of Health Services, Hemantha Herath, said investigations were underway but according to EconomyNext “the movements of the foreign tourist remains a mystery”.

“The foreigner is recorded as having already left. Investigations are now being carried out into how the sample was acquired,” he claimed. “We sent some samples we had taken at the airport to the gene sequencing laboratory, and this sample was in that stock.”

The latest news will be a blow for Colombo, with Sri Lanka desperate to attract tourists to the island amidst a looming financial crisis.

“In 2018 we had 200,000 tourists every month,” said Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority chief Kimarli Fernando. However, just 44,294 arrivals were recorded in November.