By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Dec. 31: COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) has still been conducting rescue flights for stranded Nepali nationals, including migrant workers, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, from different countries.
According to CCMC’s Coordinator and Secretary at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Mahendra Guragain, the government has not stopped rescuing Nepalis stranded in different countries, especially from the Gulf, European, African and south Asian countries.
As of Wednesday morning, the government has rescued 195,214 Nepalis from 60 countries. Among them, the highest numbers were airlifted from the United Arab Emirates with 59,695 Nepalis, followed by Qatar with 44,422 citizens, according to an updated record published by CCMC in its official website on Wednesday.
The government has also rescued 24,796 Nepalis from Malaysia, 22,842 from Saudi Arab (Riyadh and Jeddah), and 13,198 from Qatar.
From China, only 1,232 Nepali citizens has been rescued within these periods. From the United States of America, 605 Nepali citizens has come to Nepal from the rescue flights arranged by the government, 244 from the United Kingdom, 1,244 from Australia, 2,010 from Oman, 2,140 from Singapore, 47 from Germany, 38 from Canada, 21 from Denmark, 20 from Norway and 19 from Finland.
From African nations, the government has rescued a significant number of Nepalis, including 250 from South Sudan, 68 from the Central African Republic (CAR), one from Somalia, five from Ethiopia, five from Sudan, four from Nigeria, and six from Uganda. In addition, 1,490 Nepalis has also been rescued from India during these days.
According to the Media Operation section at CCMC, the government has been rescuing Nepalis from abroad for seven months now, although most of the commercial and normal flights came into operation only from October 1.
The government has been bearing all expenses while rescuing stranded Nepalis, after it endorsed ‘Work Procedure Prepared to bring back stranded citizens-2077.’ For this, the government has been using the foreign employment welfare fund to rescue and bear the cost.
The government had conducted its first rescue flight from Myanmar on June 5, though that was only a support flight made by Myanmar Air Force.