8,000 Pakistanis leave UAE, repatriation continues

A worker speaks on the phone while wearing a face mask and gloves at a market in Dubai on 21 March 2020 amid coronavirus outbreak [KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images]

The Pakistani Embassy in the UAE said that 8,000 Pakistanis who were stranded in the Emirates due to the outbreak of the coronavirus returned home since April.

Emirati newspaper Al-Khaleej yesterday quoted the Pakistani Ambassador to Abu Dhabi, Ghulam Dastgir, saying that the stranded nationals returned on 21 flights that started since 18 April, in coordination with Abu Dhabi’s Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs to ensure that the necessary precautions were taken.

Dastgir added that about 3,000 Pakistani citizens will be repatriated within the next ten days on nine flights from 11-21 May.

The government of Islamabad is implementing a plan to return 100,000 nationals stranded across the world – 60,000 in the UAE alone – through 31 flights, according to Dastgir.

Returnees will be subjected to a three-day quarantine period upon arrival in Pakistan.

READ: Half of migrant workers returning from the UAE have Covid-19, says Pakistan

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