Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed it has distributed over 90% of the care packages sent to Maldivians stranded in Sri Lanka and India.
Due to strict measures, lockdowns, and restrictions on transport, the government has made arrangements for families to provide stranded Maldivians in foreign countries with care packages of necessary items. Ministry of Foreign Affairs said over 560 from the total of 622 packages sent to Sri Lanka have been distributed to the recipients. The remaining packages are of families who have returned to Male' City and of people who could not be contacted by the High Commission of Maldives in Sri Lanka.
The ministry revealed the delivery took longer than expected as Sri Lanka set up security checkpoints across Colombo and the packages had to be checked at each and every checkpoint. An additional delay was also caused because some houses were located in narrow streets and delivery took more time.
The foreign ministry further revealed only 2 of the 79 packages sent to Trivandrum, India have not yet been given to its rightful families and 65 packages have reached Cochin, India. The packages to families in Trivandrum also had to be approved by the government as the city in Kerala State is also currently in lockdown.
Meanwhile, of the 452 packages sent to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 250 have been assigned while 202 are awaiting delivery. Due to Enhanced Movement Control Order issued in Malaysia, packages can only be delivered between 0800hrs and 2000hrs and checkpoints cause a delay in transporting the items as delivery sometimes have to go through 2 or 3 checkpoints. Packages in Malaysia are also being delayed as some individuals do not respond to calls from the High Commission of Maldives in Malaysia.
Despite the significant restrictions on movement controls and lockdowns, the government is working to deliver the packages at the soonest possible. The Maldives is the first country to send care packages to locals stranded overseas due to lockdowns.