The government's decision to ban passenger flights from India due to the Covid-19 pandemic has left stranded Malaysians and their spouses in a quandary.
Even though the Transport Ministry has outlined a policy on the return of Malaysians from India, there is no practical way for them to return home.
A Malaysiakini reader, whose husband is stranded in India, noted that the Transport Ministry had said Malaysians and their non-citizen spouses may return home despite the travel ban but must undergo quarantine for 14 days at designated quarantine centres.
The reader said her husband travelled to India before the ban for his father's funeral and she now wanted to know if he can return home after his flight on April 28 was cancelled, the same day the ban came into force.
Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong, when contacted, confirmed that no flights are available at present.
"The situation in India is bad... The National Security Council (NSC) ruling stays," he said.
However, Wee said if there is any special arrangement to repatriate stranded Malaysians and their spouses, it will fall under Wisma Putra's jurisdiction and is subject to the NSC's approval.
To date, there is no indication yet from the Foreign Ministry that there would be special flights to bring those who are stranded back home.
MIC last year organised chartered flights to repatriate Malaysians stranded in India, in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry.
Malaysiakini has reached out to the Foreign Ministry on its latest plan and is awaiting a response. A press officer said there won't be a statement yet.
Even though flights from India have been banned, Malaysia Airlines is still servicing several routes from India to Malaysia.
However, those flights are only carrying cargo while their passenger seats are left empty.
The conversion of passenger flights into cargo flights has been a common practice during the Covid-19 pandemic as international travel declined.
The government's passenger flight ban was a precaution as India is now seeing the world's highest number of new daily Covid-19 cases. It added more than 355,000 new cases yesterday.
The rapid spread was in part blamed on the B.1.617 Covid-19 variant.
Malaysia managed to detect one such case at an international entry point on April 24.
There is no evidence yet to suggest that the B.1.617 variant had spread locally.
The government is increasingly concerned that more dangerous Covid-19 variants are being imported into the country by infected travellers.
The South African B.1.351 variant, which was initially detected in limited parts of Selangor, has now spread to Perak, Kelantan, and Kuala Lumpur, although the numbers are still low - in the double digits.
The South African variant can render the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine ineffective. - Mkini
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