Malaysians in North, West India to be brought home

The government will conduct a special repatriation mission to bring home Malaysians from the northern and western regions of India as the country continues to set new records in daily Covid-19 cases and fatalities.

Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the mission will be conducted with the cooperation of the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and the health ministry using a specially chartered aircraft from Malaysia.

“The aircraft will depart to New Delhi and Mumbai, India, as soon as all related arrangements are made including approval from the Indian government for the special flight,” he said in a statement issued by the foreign ministry today.

Hishammuddin said the decision to bring them back was made jointly by all agencies involved, taking into account the observations and analysis by Malaysian missions in India.

Those who will be returning include home-based staff from the various Malaysian agencies and their dependents, all of whom will have to undergo Covid-19 tests before leaving India and upon arrival in Malaysia.

“Apart from that, they are also required to undergo 14-day quarantine at the centres appointed by the government,” Hishammuddin said.

He said Malaysians in the northern and western region of India keen on joining the repartriation flight should register with the Malaysian high commission in New Delhi and the Malaysian consulate general in Mumbai by emailing [email protected] or [email protected], at the latest by 5pm on May 7 (Friday), local time.

He reminded all Malaysians in both regions to keep in contact with the high commission and the consulate general for the latest information relating to the mission or for consular assistance.

Hishammuddin said the southern and eastern regions of the country are not included in the repatriation mission as the situation there is still under control.

Wisma Putra through its consulate general in Chennai will continue monitoring the situation in both regions and evaluate the situation to ensure the safety and well-being of Malaysians there.

Hishammuddin said the same mission was carried out during the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak last year where Malaysians were successfully repatriated from Wuhan, China, Iran and Italy.

India set a new global record today after registering its biggest single-day rise in coronavirus cases of over 412,000 in 24 hours.

Its health ministry reported 412,262 new cases, taking the country’s total number of infections to over 21 million. With a record 3,980 new fatalities, the death toll reached 230,168.