200 more undocumented Bangladeshi workers residing illegally in the Maldives, have been repatriated on Friday afternoon.

The group of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals were repatriated through the country’s national airline, Maldivian via a flight bound to Dhaka, Bangladesh from the Velana International Airport.

The evacuation exercise is part of the government’s repatriation plan for undocumented expatriate workers, announced by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih during May. It is being carried out by the collaborative efforts by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development.

The foreign ministry has since revealed that the total number of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals repatriated from the Maldives is currently at 2,499.

The evacuation is being carried out through the country’s national airline as well as Bangladesh’s Biman Airlines and two Bangladeshi military flights, revealed the foreign ministry.

Thousands of Bangladeshi nationals are being repatriated from the Maldives under the collaborative efforts alongside the Bangladeshi High Commission in Maldives after the president announced that over 1,500 undocumented migrant workers will be repatriated from the Maldives during a national address.

This comes at a time concerns have been on the rise due to the high number of Bangladeshi nationals testing positive for Covid-19 in the island nation. They are deemed at high risk of the global pandemic due to their lifestyles and the confined spaces they are forced to live in, in large groups, after being brought to the country.

The Covid-19 dashboard shows that the highest number of confirmed cases in the Maldives has been of Bangladeshi nationals, at 1,124 which is 52.60% of the total case count; 2,137.