Sri Lankan Airlines is to schedule a flight between Sri Lanka and the Maldives, specifically for the Maldivians residing in the neighboring country who wish to return as the situation of the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) is changing rapidly across the globe.

The airlines’ General Sales Agent, Ace Aviation’s Managing Director Mohamed Firaq told RaajjeMV that there are several Maldivians in the neighboring country, who wish to return.

As such, the airline is working to prepare the required documents for this currently, said Firaq.

He added that a chartered flight will be arranged within the next four days, specifically for this purpose.

Further, Firaq noted that Maldivians who wish to return are mostly those who have travelled to Sri Lanka for several purposes like leisure, medical and business and are having to stay in hotels.

The Maldivian community in Sri Lanka reach up to 15,000, and while most of them are residing in the country, Sri Lanka is a place where Maldivians travel frequently for several purposes.

The government of Maldives earlier announced that all arrivals in Maldives, except tourists will be subject to a 14-day quarantine period. Hence, Maldivians arriving from Sri Lanka will also be required to undergo the quarantine process.

While the fatal virus has spread across the entire globe in the span of a few months, there have been over 381,000 cases worldwide with the death toll reaching over 16,000 and over 102,000 patients recovering. In Sri Lanka, there have been 97 confirmed cases out of which two patients have recovered. There have not been any deaths in the country as of Tuesday.

The Sri Lankan government extended it’s nationwide curfew in their efforts to combat the outbreak until Thursday. The curfew was initially announced last week, it was extended on Monday.

With this, the Sri Lankan government has also closed all international commercial flights into the country, with a 14-day quarantine process in place for those who return from high-risk countries, as well.