A large number of Sri Lankans, who are working in Kuwait, illegally, had contracted COVID-19 ad they are suffering in COVID-19 without any help from the Sri Lana Government , Sri Lankan Immigrant Workers Rights organizations said.
The Sri Lanka-Kuwait Unity organization said that a number of Sri Lankans, in the cities of Farwaniya, Ahmadi, Hawalli, Jahra, in Kuwait, had contracted the virus and four had died. The organisation said that among legal immigrants, taxi drivers were the most affected. The Kuwait government provided no assistance to foreign workers who contracted the virus, the organisation said.
Convenor of the organisation, Nishantha Madapatha said that it was suspected that the husband and the children of the Sri Lankan woman, who passed away after returning to Sri Lanka, too, had become infected. However, the Kuwait authorities had not tested them before asking them to stay at home.
Madapatha said that they had asked the Sri Lankan government to facilitate the return of Sri Lankans, who were in Kuwait, without visas, about a month back. During the time it took the government to facilitate their return, a significant number had got infected, he said. This showed how fast the virus was spreading in that country.
A large number of Sri Lankans in Kuwait wanted to return home because they did not even have money.
(LIN)