Malaysia to bring back its citizens from India

By Devina Halim

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AA) – Malaysia will bring its citizens back from the northern and western regions of India as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the South Asian country.

Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said his country would use a specially chartered aircraft to help the return of its citizens.

“The aircraft will depart to New Delhi and Mumbai as soon as the Indian government gives the approval and all arrangements are finished,” Hussein said in a written statement on Friday.

The southern and the eastern regions of India were not included in the repatriation mission as the situations there are reported to be under control.

He asked the Malaysians residing in the northern and western regions of India to register themselves with the Malaysian mission in Mumbai in case they want to return home.

Those returning will include home-based staff members of various Malaysian agencies.

All of them will have to undergo COVID-19 testing before leaving India and also upon arrival in Malaysia.

“They are also required to undergo 14-day quarantine at the selected facilities,” he said.

India has set another global record for daily coronavirus cases on Friday, registering over 414,000 infections in the past 24 hours.

According to the US-based Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, India has so far reported 21.4 million COVID-19 related cases with 234,083 deaths.

The country has so far administered 159.9 million doses, fully vaccinating 30.2 million people making 2.21% of the total population.

*Writing by Maria Elisa Hospita