Three flights have been for the evacuation of foreigners stranded in the Maldives.

According to the tourism ministry, flights of NEOS Airlines (NO213) and Garuda Indonesia Airlines (GA9830) is scheduled to leave on Friday while a Philippines Airlines (PR8709) is confirmed for the next day.

It stressed that the Maldives Police Service “will only permit vessels/vehicles carrying passengers with confirmed tickets from their respective locations to the airport”, and appealed to all to adhere to the instructions of the relevant authorities.

Further, the ministry asked all tourist establishments and island councils to cooperate with them “to extend necessary assistance to passengers in reaching the airport”.

Maldives closed its borders on March 27, as part of its efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 in the archipelago nation.

There have been a few repatriation flights since, including a Qatar Airways flight on April 21. Further, the country’s national airline operated chartered flights to South Africa and Mauritius earlier this month while a flight carrying care packages to Maldivians in Thailand airlifted 55 Thai nationals on April 16.