Another group of 200 Bangladeshi workers residing in the Maldives have been repatriated, on Saturday.

The group of 200 was repatriated through the country’s national airline, Maldivian via a flight bound to Dhaka, Bangladesh from the Velana International Airport (VIA).

Being carried out through the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development, the evacuation exercise comes as part of the Maldivian government’s efforts to send the thousands of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals, back home, after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih made the official announcement during a national address in May.

This comes at a time thousands of Bangladeshi nationals have been testing positive to the global Covid-19 pandemic in the Maldives, which has infected 1,189 Bangladeshis, which is 52.08 percent of the total case count; 2,283.

This has churned public concern regarding the manner in which Bangladeshi workers are being treated in the Maldives. As such, they are deemed at a high risk of the pandemic due to their challenging lifestyles and congested living quarters they are forced to reside in, in large groups.

Earlier, the president stressed that those who bring Bangladeshi nationals to the country have a responsibility to ensure their safety.

Thus far, the number of undocumented Bangladeshi workers repatriated from the island nation reaches over 2,500.