190 Indonesians, 47 Europeans evacuated from Maldives

Maldives Immigration has announced that 237 foreign nationals were evacuated out of Maldives on Thursday.

According to Maldives Immigration, the 237 were 190 Indonesians and 47 Europeans.

The Indonesians were evacuated on board an Indonesian airline fight, while the Europeans will be travelling to their home countries through the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, added Maldives Immigration.

The decision to close borders and suspend commercial flights in a bid to curb the spread of the new coronavirus had left thousands of foreign nationals stranded in Maldives, many of whom have now been evacuated to their home countries on board chartered flights through the collaborative efforts of the Maldivian government and respective foreign governments.

Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, South Africa and several European countries have chartered flights to evacuate their nationals from Maldives.

1,186 people have tested positive for the new coronavirus in Maldives. 766 of them are foreign nationals, and the remaining 420 are Maldivian nationals.

91 have since recovered, while four – including a foreign national – has died from complications.

Maldives identified its first virus case, in Kuredu resort, on March 7, and has been in a state of public health emergency since March 12.

While virus cases had initially been restricted to resorts and safaris, and later inbound travelers in quarantine facilities, the populous Maldivian capital Male’ City identified its first virus case on April 15 – prompting a lockdown on the Greater Male’ Region.

Male’ quickly became the epicenter of coronavirus outbreak in Maldives, contributing to over 1,100 of the total virus cases.

Maldives, in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, has also imposed a nationwide ban on all non-essential travel, closed schools and government offices, and has ordered a temporary ban on mass gatherings in mosques in an effort to control the spread of the disease.

Health authorities project a significant surge in virus cases by the end of May, and have urged members of the general public to remain vigilant in adhering to preventive measures.