The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed that over 200 Maldivians stranded in neighboring Sri Lanka have been repatriated.
A total of 262 Maldivians who were stranded due to the lockdown imposed, after visiting the neighboring country for several different purposes, were evacuated.
As per protocol, all evacuees will be quarantined for 14 days and the ministry revealed that officers of the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) are currently working to do so.
Speaking to press on Tuesday, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC)’s spokesperson, Mohamed Mabrook Aziz revealed that over 200 Maldivians would be repatriated via a Sri Lankan flight. These evacuees include those who travelled under the health insurance scheme, Aasandha, individuals with special needs, those who travelled on a tourist visa as well as others in need of financial assistance.
Everyone will be quarantined. They were given forms to fill out before arriving in the Maldives, on quarantine methods. We held discussions with the facility management regarding the forms. They said that 153 individuals have been told that they can go into home quarantine. They have requested to be quarantined across 13 atolls”Mohamed Mabrook Aziz, Covid-19 spokesperson
In light of this, Mabrook had said that MNDF will work to transfer them into atoll quarantine and stressed that a number of evacuees had failed to fill out their forms. Due to this, the spokesperson cited MNDF having said that there might be delays in the process.
Maldivians to be evacuated in the future have been urged to fill out these forms and forward them beforehand so as to ensure an organized quarantine procedure.
Further, it has been revealed that Sri Lankan nationals stranded in the Maldives are also to be evacuated; 15 on Wednesday morning and 283 on Wednesday night.
