Governments expatriate repatriation programme numbers exceed 2000

The number of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals repatriated from the Maldives has surpassed 2,000.

This comes after Maldivian repatriated another group of Bangladeshi nationals from the Maldives.

The repatriation took place on Friday afternoon on a Maldivian flight, bound to Dhaka, carrying 200 Bangladeshi nationals.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that the total number of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals repatriated from the Maldives is at 2,100.

Thousands of Bangladeshi nationals have been repatriated from the Maldives thus far, under the collaborative efforts from the Ministry of Economic Development and the Bangladeshi High Commission in Maldives after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced that over 1,500 undocumented migrant workers will be repatriated from the Maldives.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the Maldives have been of Bangladeshi nationals, at 1,046 which is 52.94% of the total case count; 1,976.

Since the first cases of Bangladeshi nationals were confirmed, there have been rising concerns regarding the surging numbers, as they are classified as vulnerable to the infection due to their lifestyles and the confined spaces they are forced to live in large groups.

Groups of Bangladeshi nationals have since been transferred to other living quarters under an initiative of the government as well.