KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — A total of 4,577 Malaysians overseas have so far been brought home through the repatriation exercise funded by the government, with contributions from political parties, private sector and individuals.

However, Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar said in a statement today, there were still  3,026 Malaysians reported to be still stranded in 45 countries, with the biggest number of 1,446 in India.

“Of the 3,026 stranded Malaysians, 2,016 are tourists or short-term visitors. The rest are Malaysians who are residing in other countries because of work or studies, but have made plans to return during the movement control order (MCO) period, they can be categorised as stranded non-critical (persons),” he said.

Kamarudin who is also chairman of the Foreign Ministry’s Covid-19 Team said among the countries with a high number of stranded Malaysians were Thailand (259 people), Australia (152), New Zealand (149), Pakistan (144), Vietnam (131), Arab Saudi (121), Philippines (97), Sri Lanka (61) and Nepal (50). — Bernama

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