CORONAVIRUS | Eighty-one Malaysians and their families were brought back from Italy this morning, said Deputy Foreign Minister Kamarudin Jaafar.

In a statement issued today, Kamarudin said the special AirAsia flight which brought them home landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 10am.

“The number includes 34 students and eight members of the Malaysian Embassy in Rome and Holy See as well as their family members,” he said.

Also on the flight were 17 crew members and seven civil servants, namely one person from the Foreign Ministry, one from the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and five from the Health Ministry.

He added that upon arrival in Malaysia, the group began their 14-day quarantine process at the Higher Education Leadership Academy in Nilai as required by the Health Ministry.

Kamarudin said the repatriation mission was the result of close collaboration between the Foreign Ministry, Nadma, the Health Ministry, the Malaysian Embassy in Rome and Holy See as well as other related agencies.

“I want to express the highest appreciation to Nadma, the Health Ministry, the Malaysian Embassy in Rome and Holy See as well as other agencies who gave the best cooperation in making this mission a success,” he said.

Last week, the government brought home 46 Malaysians and nine people from Iran through the third series of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief mission following the Covid-19 pandemic.

In two previous missions, on Feb 4 and Feb 26, the government brought home two groups of Malaysians stranded in Wuhan, China comprising 133 and 66 people respectively. - Bernama 

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