An additional 200 undocumented immigrants in the Maldives were repatriated on Tuesday.
Over 1000 Bangladeshi nationals have been sent back to their country following the COVID-19 pandemic. While some were repatriated on a Bangladeshi military aircraft over two occasions, several were evacuated on a charter flight arranged by the Maldives government and on national carrier 'Maldivian' flights.
The Maldives government said over 63,000 undocumented immigrants are in the Maldives. The government recently began a re-registration program for such individuals, which has now been halted due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Most labour workers in Maldives live in congested quarters. Out of the 1395 positive cases of COVID-19 recorded in the Maldives, almost 700 are Bangladeshi nationals.
Photo: Maldivian
