Over 10,000 Nepalis flew abroad in last five months

KATHMANDU: As per statistics maintained by the government, over 10,000 Nepalis have gone abroad in the last five months.
The government had imposed a nationwide lockdown starting from March 24 till July 22 to prevent the COVID-19 from spreading in the country. Starting from March 24 till mid-August a total of 20,723 passengersdeparted to different countries from Kathmandu. Among them, 11,226 were Nepalis, according to the Department of Immigration (DoI).
The department informed that most of the Nepalis have returned to labour destinations including South Korea, Japan and Dubai, among other countries for their work while some others have returned to Australia and America for studies and work.
Meanwhile, a total of 50,723 Nepali workers have returned to the country in the last five months from 30 different countries. Of the people who have returned the highest number is from the United Arab Emirates at 14,000. The government had started repatriation flights from June 22 to evacuate Nepalis stranded abroad due to the coronavirus.
However, the fifth phase of repatriation flights has been halted by the government citing lack of adequate hotel quarantine facilities.
Similarly, a total of 9,484 foreigners who had been stranded here due to the lockdown have returned to their home countries via chartered flights organized by their respective embassies.
Among them, 1,403 were Chinese, 1,341 were Americans and 975 were British nationals. During the last five months 208 foreigners including non-resident Nepalis have also arrived in Nepal. As per the department, all the foreign nationals who returned were officials and diplomats while a few non-resident Nepalis have returned due to family issues.
Amid the increasing positive cases of the COVID-19 the government has suspended all domestic and international flight operations till September 1.

Fiscal Nepal |
Thursday August 20, 2020, 09:25:32 AM |


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