On 5th June, 2020, 26 Nepalis stranded in Myanmar touched down at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu – beginning Nepal’s repatriation effort to bring back its stranded citizens home.
As of 4th July, 2020, according to a report by COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC), 18,294 Nepalis had returned home – about 3/4th of its initial plans to urgently bring back 25,000 Nepalis home.
According to the same report, the highest number of returnees are from Kuwait (3,839 people), UAE (3,192 people), Saudi Arabia (2,549), Qatar (1,957), and Malaysia (1,810) respectively.
483 Nepalis have been repatriated from Australia via two flights too – one from Sydney, and another from Melbourne.
As per the report by CCMC, Nepal has organised repatriation of its citizens from 22 countries.
Of the repatriated citizens, 895 are staying in hotel quarantines. A further 12,831 have been sent to their state-based quarantines, of which 2,333 returnees chose to stay in home quarantine. At present, 2,186 people are staying in various quarantines set up by the local bodies, according to the CCMC records.
Nepalis wishing to return home are expected to produce a PCR report which verifies they have tested negative for COVID-19 just ahead of their return flight home.
Upon arrival, returnees are sent to holding centres as arranged by Nepali Army at various areas across the valley – they are then assessed for symptoms before either being sent to their respective state. If they are from Province 3, they are either sent to state quarantine, or will be asked to self-quarantine at home.
