india

Updated: Apr 26, 2020 20:16 IST

The Kerala government is preparing for the return of thousands of expatriates from West Asia amid indications that Indians stranded around the world due to Covid-19-related travel restrictions are set to return to the country.

On Sunday, the non-resident Keralites affairs (Norka) department started online registration of people who want to return to the state. Kerala’s higher education and minority affairs minister TK Jaleel said the government expects between 150,000 to 200,000 people to return within the space of a month.

Kerala also wants the Central government to help in sending back migrant workers from north and northeast India stranded in the state before the expatriates arrive. At least 300,000 migrant workers are currently in some 10,000 camps across the state.

The state government said among the people expected to return, pregnant women, relatives of expatriates who went abroad for a vacation and got stranded, patients with medical conditions other than Covid-19, students and people whose visas have expired will get priority.

People who have tested negative for Covid-19 in other countries will have to give an undertaking that they will remain in quarantine for a fortnight on arrival in Kerala.

“We have made all arrangements to receive our people. After tests, those who have symptoms will be shifted to our care homes. Others will be sent to their homes with strict instructions to remain in quarantine,” said Jaleel.

“We will get a clear idea [about the number of people returning] once the registration is over. We will give preference to women and children,” he added.

Last week, a woman from based in Dubai filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking help to return home to deliver her baby. She said she wanted to return for her first delivery in July, and that after seven months of pregnancy, she wouldn’t be allowed to travel by air.

Many expatriates are upset with the government, especially at a time when Pakistan and the Philippines have evacuated their nationals from West Asia.

Many Covid-19 care homes have come up near the four international airports in Kerala but authorities believe they may not be sufficient to cope with the flow, and vacant flats, locked houses and houseboats are also being prepared to house the expatriates. Work is progressing at Alapuzha to convert houseboats into quarantine homes and Covid-19 hospitals.

There are about 1.8 million people from Kerala working in West Asian countries and their remittances during 2018-19 were worth Rs 88,000 crore, serving as the backbone of the state’s money order economy.

A senior state health ministry official said on condition of anonymity that once the expatriates start arriving, Kerala will introduce reverse quarantine – the practice of separating the most vulnerable, elderly or people with co-morbidity conditions and closely monitoring their health indicators to protect them from infection.

The government is working on the idea that in case of community spread, it can isolate the large greying population and check the mortality rate among them, unlike what happened in some Western countries, the official said. Since some those who returned from the Middle East last month emerged as super spreaders, the state will be more cautious this time.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to the prime minister to run special trains to take migrant workers in Kerala back to their states. Kerala is taking all steps to look after them but their presence is draining its coffers.

“The state’s economy is in shambles. We want migrant workers to be sent back before the arrival of the expatriates. We hope the Centre will help us,” said a senior government official who declined to be named.