Maldivians stranded in Thailand will return home tonight

Foreign Ministry has announced the Maldivian nationals stranded in Thailand amid the COVID-19 pandemic will be evacuated back home on Monday night.

Foreign Ministry has issued a brief statement announcing that 26 Maldivian nationals stranded in Thailand will return to Male’ and Monday night, and will thereupon undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine in a facility.

A chartered flight operated by the national airline, Maldivian had left for the Thai capital Bangkok carrying the last of the Thai nationals who had applied for the Thai consulate’s voluntary repatriation program on Monday morning.

The Maldivian nationals stranded in Thailand will return to Maldives on the same flight.

Maldivian, in addition to operating chartered flights for repatriation operations, is also operating cargo flights to ensure Maldives continues to receive supplies of food and other essentials amid the closure of its borders.

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 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 1,300 of the total virus cases.

Maldives has 1,371 confirmed cases of COVID-19. 144 people have since recovered, while four have died from complications.

The country, in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, has cancelled the issuance of on-arrival visa, 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 residential islands which have confirmed virus cases.