The Malaysian Insight

PUTRAJAYA is organising a special flight to bring back Malaysians in India as the Covid-19 pandemic there worsen, said Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

In a statement, Hishammuddin said this special repatriation mission, using a special charter aircraft from Malaysia, will depart to New Delhi and Mumbai soon.

Hishammuddin said Malaysians planning to return must first screened for Covid-19 before departure and upon arrival.

“They will also have to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine at the designated facility on their return,” he said in the statement.

Malaysians in these areas who want to join this repatriation mission have until 5pm (local time) tomorrow to inform the High Commission in New Delhi or Consulate General in Mumbai.

He said the High Commission in New Delhi can be contacted by phone at: +91-11-2415 9311 / +91-85-9555-0594. Its email is mwdelhi@kln.gov.my

The Consulate can be reached by phone at +91 22 2645 5751/5752 and its email is: mwmumbai@kln.gov.my.

According to him, the repatriation mission this time did not involve the southern and eastern provinces in India as the situation in those provinces are still under control.

He said the Foreign Ministry through the Consulate General Malaysia in Chennai will continue to monitor the situation in those provinces and make continuous assessments to ensure the safety and welfare of Malaysians there continue to be taken care of.

Today, India saw almost 4,000 Covid-19 deaths and more than 412,000 new cases in the past 24 hours, both new records.

Health Ministry numbers showed 3,980 deaths, taking the national total to 230,168, and 412,262 new cases, bringing India’s caseload since the pandemic began to 21.1 million.

The renewed rise follows several days of falling case numbers that had raised government hopes that the catastrophic recent surge may have been easing.

Having hit a high of 402,000 last Friday, the daily number of cases eased in subsequent days to as low as 357,000 before creeping up again on Tuesday.

The sharp rise in cases since late March has overwhelmed hospitals in many places with fatal shortages of beds, drugs and oxygen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has resisted imposing a new lockdown although several regions including the capital New Delhi, Bihar and Maharashtra have imposed local shutdowns. – May 6, 2021.