National airline Maldivian, on Wednesday, revealed that an additional 200 Bangladeshi citizens were sent back to their home country on a flight headed to Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
According to Maldivian, since the ongoing global COVID19 pandemic first emerged in the region, the airline has, to date, arranged a total of 40 flights to repatriate over 7700 Bangladeshi nationals.
Our 40th #repatriation flight with 200 Bangladeshi nationals has left to Dhaka from @VelanaAirport.
— Maldivian (@MaldivianAero) October 14, 2020
As of today, #Maldivian has flown a total of 7732 Bangladeshi passengers on these repatriation flights.#NationalAirline 🇲🇻 pic.twitter.com/0sItNbWBwo
Earlier, authorities estimated that approximately 20,000 workers will be sent back to their home countries by the end of 2020.
Since the beginning of the community-wide outbreak of COVID-19 in Maldives, a total of 2,900 Bangladeshi expatriates have tested positive for the virus, amounting to over 26 percent of all confirmed cases in the country.
The COVID-19 outbreak in the capital city of Male' has disproportionately affected the expatriate population, the majority of whom are Bangladeshi nationals living in highly congested quarters where it is impossible to reduce contact or exercise social distancing.
Their often small-spaced living conditions have been described by local and international civil society organisations as, "claustrophobic", "unsanitary" and "overcrowded".
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