The national airline, Maldivian, has evacuated 197 Maldivian nationals stranded in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The locals were brought by the special repatriation flight arranged by Maldivian. The flight landed at 0448 hours on Wednesday.
Island Aviation Services Limited (IASL), which operates Maldivian, stated the total weight of the luggage brought by the flight amounts to 7,290 kilograms. IASL sold tickets for USD 330 per passenger.
The protocols followed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) states all passengers except tourists arriving in Maldives must stay in a quarantine facility for a period of 14-days. In this regard, the Maldivians who arrived from Sri Lanka and Malaysia were taken to a quarantine facility upon their arrival. HPA will test all individuals in the quarantine facilities for COVID-19 before they are released after the 14-day period.
So far, Maldivian has brought 100 locals in Colombo, Sri Lanka and 188 locals in Cochin, India in addition to the locals in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Maldivian has said repatriation flights will be arranged until all locals stranded abroad are brought back to the country.