500 Bangladeshi nationals to be repatriated

National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) has announced that 500 Bangladeshi nationals in the Maldives will be repatriated today.

NEOC spokesperson Mabrouq Azeez, speaking in a press conference last night, said that the repatriation flights were conducted as part of a conjoined operation by the national airlines of both nations. 

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had announced earlier this month that the government was working to repatriate 1500 Bangladeshi nationals. 

Bangladeshi nationals make up the majority of COVID-19 cases confirmed in the Maldives. 524 cases of Bangladeshi nationals infected with the virus have been identified while the number of locals that tested positive for the virus stands at 323.

Many migrant workers in the country are forced to live in squalor due to multiple reasons. Authorities have previously warned that the migrant worker population of the country was the most exposed to the virus. It is estimated that migrants make up 25 percent of the population with a large portion of the community undocumented.