Malé, Maldives — The national flight of Maldives, Maldivian has repatriated over 9,200 Bangladeshi nationals since Covid-19 started spreading in Maldives in May.
On December 10, Maldivian airline tweeted to inform that they have repatriated 200 Bangladeshis from a flight that will be going to the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
Including the repatriation of these 200 expats, till date, the airline has repatriated over 9,200 Bangladeshis who were living in Maldives.
The Maldivian government has been repatriating volunteering expatriate workers from Maldives due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. By the end of 2020, the government has aimed to repatriate at least 20,000 undocumented workers.
The Economic Development Minister noted that the country will not force any expatriate to return to their home country.
The repatriation program began when there was a surge in the number of confirmed Bangladeshis in the country. When the Covid-19 virus first lead to a community spread in the Malé city, majority of the confirmed confirmed cases were recorded to be of Bangladeshi nationals.
This was mainly due to the overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions that the expacts had to live in. While Maldives consists of a mass amount of Bangladeshi population, the Maldives Immigration revealed that there are approximately 100,000 undocumented workers living in Maldives illegally without having any valid documents or passports.
This is why, the government decided to repatriate as many Bangladeshis living in Maldives for the safety of everyone. As the number of repatriated Bangladeshis increased, the amount of Bangladeshi nationals testing positive for the virus has decreased by a great extend as well.
Till date, Maldives has confirmed a total of 13,308 Covid-19 cases from which 3,270 cases are of Bangladeshi nationals. Out of the confirmed 13,308 cases, only 633 Covid-19 cases remains active. While 12, 621 people have completely recovered from the virus, 48 people have passed away from it.
