Coronavirus pandemic: Oman returns expatriates to home countries

Sultanate of Oman has scheduled repatriation flights for its foreign nationals between 14 July and 18 July, 2020, as part of the effort against the surge of coronavirus pandemic.

An Oman news agency reported the government would operate 17 repatriation flights in July to multiple destinations including India, Pakistan, Egypt and Germany and Greece.

14 July schedule will see three flights take off for the repatriation exercise, with a special flight to Athens by OmanAir and SalamAir flights to Sialkot in Pakistan and Alexander.

The flight destinations for three repatration flights on 15 July will be India, Multan in Pakistan, and Cairo.

On 16 July, three SalamAir flights will travel to Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar in Pakistan, while an Oman Air flight will depart to Frankfurt, and one more Vande Bharat aircraft will head to Lucknow in northern India.

17 July is scheduled for two Vande Bharat flights from Muscat to Vijayawada and Mumbai.

18 July, being the last day for the repatriation flights, will see one flight scheduled to travel to Delhi in India.

By the end of the first quarter of 2020, expatriates accounted for 41.7 percent of the total population of Oman, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information.

Oman, with a conservative estimate of nearly 5.2 million population, has so far recorded 59,568 cases and 273 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic.