Covid-19: 100 Maldivians brought back from Sri Lanka
The national airline had initially planned two trips to Lanka on Sunday, but only one flight was conducted
The first repatriation flight arrived on Sunday night
A total of 100 Maldivians have been brought back from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
While the national airline, Maldivian, revealed repatriation flights to Colombo and Cochin in India, the 100 Maldivians were evacuated on Sunday night. Their flight landed at Velana International Airport at around 9:45pm.
The airline had initially planned two trips to Lanka on Sunday, but only one flight was conducted. Tickets were sold at MVR 4,626.
While authorities made the decision to quarantine all arrivals except tourists on March 21, for a 14-day period, those returning on these repatriation flights will undergo the same procedures. And they will be tested for Covid-19, prior to release from the facilities as well.
The government made the decision to quarantine arrivals as the Covid-19 cases discovered in the Maldives have been imported cases, and the decision to test all quarantined persons before release was made after two Italians that departed the country after a 14-day quarantine period tested positive.
The 100 Maldivians brought back on Sunday also include the TC Sports Club; the football club has been quarantined in Lanka since March 12, after being taken there from Bangladesh. They had traveled to Bangladesh for an AFC Cup match, and authorities made the decision to quarantine them in Lanka before returning them to Maldives. However, Sri Lanka went into a lockdown before this period ended.
While Maldivian is conducting flights to Colombo and Cochin to bring back Maldivians that want to return home, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid said that the national airline is also working to evacuate Maldivians from Trivandrum and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as well.
The ministry is assisting in the evacuation efforts.
