Sri Lanka provides 2,000 packs of essentials to Sri Lankan community stranded in the Maldives

The Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka has dispatched 2,000 packs of essential items to be disbursed among the Sri Lankan community residing in Maldives capital, Malé City and outlying atolls.

In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry revealed that the supplies weighing over 10,000 kilograms include dry rations.

The packs to be disbursed through the Sri Lanka High Commission in the Maldives, were provided in an effort to ease the many difficulties faced by the most vulnerable of the Sri Lankan citizens, particularly in the Greater Malé Region where a lockdown has been in place since April 15 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The packs were delivered through a cargo flight of the Sri Lankan Airlines in collaboration with the foreign ministry on Sunday.

Each of the individual support kits comprise 18 items including basic commodities like instant food packs, sanitary items and essential medicines commonly used by the Sri Lankan community.

The ministry earlier revealed that approximately 7,000 Sri Lankan nationals stranded in the Maldives are currently seeking repatriation, and 2,000 are in in the capital region.

The Sri Lankan foreign ministry has held discussions with the Maldivian authorities, who are willing to conduct Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for those to be repatriated, in advance. This will be done provided that PCR test kits and medical personnel from Sri Lanka are made available to do so.

On May 14, 284 Sri Lankan nationals were evacuated from the island nation and special approval had be to procured in order to repatriate a few medical emergency cases from outside the capital city.

The Foreign Relations, Skills Development, Employment and Labor Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena is committed to continue the repatriation of the country’s nationals from several parts of the world.