News
More Lankans come home
Seven more repatriation flights have been scheduled between 28 November and 8 December with returnees from four of these flights going into paid quarantine and the others into Government-run facilities.
Six of these flights will bring home migrant workers from Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain and the UAE. The other flight is repatriating Government officials, short-term visa holders and students from Australia. Approximately 2,000 Sri Lankans will be repatriated within this 10-day period.
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- Nearly there: Returnees line up to complete formalities Pix by Deepa Adikari
The repatriation process of Sri Lankans resumed on Nov 17. Priority is given to Sri Lankans stranded in the Middle East, said Army Commander Lt Gen Shavendra Silva, who heads the National Operations Center for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO).
Around 67,000 Sri Lankans are now awaiting repatriation, said B Kandeepan, who leads the Foreign Ministry’s Covid-19 team. “But the numbers are expected to reduce as some who have lost their jobs have managed to find other employment,” he predicted.
Sri Lankans who did not belong to vulnerable groups – such as those on vacation – were also hoping to return, he said. But the majority of the returnees are people in distress. The first flight after repatriation resumed brought back 286 Sri Lankans from Dubai.
Flights will come into Sri Lanka every other day to facilitate the crowds with quarantine and testing capabilities.
Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament that, as of November 13 this year, there were a total of 816,433 Sri Lankan workers abroad.
Some of those affected by the virus were given dry rations, basic medical facilities, face masks and sanitizers and temporary accommodation. Returning registered workers are receiving support from the Foreign Employment Bureau to claim the insurance they are entitled to. 102 applications for medical and travel expenses have been submitted, 49 of which have already been honoured with cheques worth Rs 2,388,228.
68 Lankan workers have died of the virus abroad. The Bureau has paid Rs 40,000 each for religious rites of workers whose funerals took place abroad. 24 insurance claims worth Rs 1.2mn each have been submitted related to these deaths. Cheques worth Rs 3mn for six of these claims were forwarded to the Bureau for payment. Six dependents of foreign workers whose registration had expired at the time of death while abroad also asked for support.
Meanwhile, the digitization of information gathered on foreign returnees has begun at quarantine centers. Of 13,000 workers, the details of 6,000 have been digitized so far.
According to available information, 1,617 of the returnees have opted to join the local workforce; 2,163 workers hope to return to jobs abroad; 654 people hope to start their own businesses; 64 have decided to gain further job-related training; and 2,159 returnees have expressed other intentions.
Repatriation priority is given to workers who lost their jobs and whose visas had expired. Factors such as available space in quarantine centres, PCR testing resources and ICU beds are taken into consideration when bringing them back.