KATHMANDU: Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, nine Nepali migrant workers employed in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have succumbed to the disease and another 510 labourers in the Gulf Cooperation Council nations and Malaysia have been infected by the virus. Kumar Dahal, director general of the Department of Foreign Employment, said three Nepalis had lost their lives in Qatar and six in the UAE till date.

However, due to the sensitivity of the matter and the impact it could have on the country, the government had not provided details of the deceased persons, said Dahal. “We provided details to the families concerned only as the information could affect the country negatively in its fight against the contagion,” he added. Till Sunday, Bahrain with 244 positive cases had the highest number of infected Nepali migrants, followed by 81 in Kuwait and 75 in the UAE.

As many as 65 Nepali migrants in Qatar, 30 in Saudi Arabia, 11 in Malaysia and four in Oman have been infected with the coronavirus.

According to data provided by the Non-Resident Nepali Association, 5,472 Nepalis living abroad had been infected by the coronavirus as of May 9. Among them, 78 have died and nearly 2,000 have recovered. The NRNA data, however, did not include the three migrant workers that the DoFE said had succumbed to the virus in Qatar.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 12, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.