BD expats account for half of COVID-19 dead in Maldives

Bangladeshi expatriates account for half of those who died from COVID-19 in the Maldives while the rest are locals, a Maldives Insider report analysis shows.

Meanwhile, Xinhua reported as of Saturday a total of 1,018 Bangladeshi nationals had contracted COVID-19 in the Maldives, making up 54 per cent of all the confirmed cases in the country.

According to Maldives Insider, as of today (Sunday), the small island’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) registered a total of eight deaths from the deadly viral disease.

Of those dead, four are Maldivians while as many others are Bangladeshis.

The fourth Bangladeshi died in the small island nation on Saturday.

Quoting the Maldives’s Health Protection Agency, Maldives Insider reported that the first death of a Bangladeshi took place on May 05, second on May 26 and third on June 01.

Xinhua also reported that the Maldives hosts a large community of around 100,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers who have been vulnerable to infection due to poor housing conditions.

Citing the information from the National Emergency Operating Center (NEOC), it said that the Maldives government has repatriated 2,153 Bangladeshi nationals so far.

As reported by The Financial Express on June 02, the Bangladeshi death toll abroad from COVID-19 reached 800, while cases approached 35,000.

On the day, the death and case count relating to Bangladeshis was reported, the same figures in the country were respectively registered at 709 and 52,445.

What a Maldivian media outlet has recently said in one of its reports might have an explanation to such a large number of deaths of Bangladeshis abroad.

According to The Edition, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the Maldives' large expatriate population, the majority of whom are Bangladeshi nationals and live in highly congested quarters where it is impossible to reduce contact or exercise social distancing.

As of today, Bangladesh reported 888 COVID-19 deaths and 65,769 cases inside the territory.