353 undocumented workers repatriated to Bangladesh

The Maldivian government, on Saturday, evacuated 353 undocumented Bangladeshi workers from Maldives and back to their home country.

According to Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, the workers were repatriated on board a chartered Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight which had arrived in Maldives on early Saturday carrying equipment for the COVID Village, a hospital under development in suburban Hulhumale’ to treat coronavirus patients.

And 70 more undocumented Bangladeshi workers are scheduled to be repatriated on board the Bangladeshi Air Force aircraft which had arrived in Maldives carrying 10 tonnes of food, medical equipment and medicine donated by the Bangladeshi government.

Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in an address in early May, highlighted on the plight of migrant workers in Maldives amid the COVID-19 outbreak, and announced that his administration was working on facilitating the repatriation 1,500 undocumented workers.

Maldives has a population of close to 150,000 migrant workers, some 63,000 of whom are undocumented.

Most of the migrant workers in Maldives are Bangladeshis, and live in congested labor quarters which make them particular vulnerable to infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

The vulnerability of migrant workers is evident from records of COVID-19 cases released by the health authorities. Maldives has recorded 1,078 COVID-19 cases, and the number of Bangladeshi workers to get infected with the disease exceeds Maldivians.

The Director General of Public Health has ordered migrant workers in Male’ City who are vulnerable to getting infected with the disease to be moved to quarantine facilities. Hundreds have been moved to quarantine facilities in Hulhumale’ and Gulhifalhu, and the government is working on building additional quarantine facilities to house more migrant workers.