ELEVEN Malaysians who were reported to be stranded in Vienna, Austria, as a result of the travel restrictions imposed to curb the Covid-19 pandemic have safely arrived in Malaysia, said the Malaysian Embassy in Vienna’s head of chancery, Mohd Yunus Ibrahim.

Yunus said the embassy assisted the group by providing advice based on confirmed and up-to-date information obtained from local authorities in Austria.

“The group of 11 Malaysian that were reportedly stranded on March 17 in Vienna, have safely arrived in Malaysia at 1425hrs, March 19 via MH0785 from Bangkok.

“The group took Finnair Airways via Helsinki to Bangkok on March 18,” he said via an email reply to Bernama.

Yunus said as of now, no other Malaysians are reported to be stranded in Austria or Slovakia.

Meanwhile, in a related development, the Malaysian Embassy in Uzbekistan’s first secretary Aneurin Ignatius said as of March 19, 220 Malaysians were stranded in the country.

Ignatius said the majority of these Malaysians are tourists who were not given enough notice to leave Uzbekistan because of the immediate travel ban instituted by the local government on March 16.

“The government of Uzbekistan has announced that they will assist in providing a special chartered flight to send all stranded Malaysians and Singaporeans back to Kuala Lumpur.

“However, thus far, no concrete details have been provided on the date and time of the said chartered flight. The embassy is engaging at the highest level with the Uzbekistan government to get further information on the said assistance,” said the diplomat.

He also advised family members of Malaysians stranded in Uzbekistan to remain calm, considering the Covid-19 situation there is still relatively low (23 cases as of March 19).

“The embassy is putting every effort to ensure the safety and comfort of all Malaysians in Uzbekistan,” he said.

Ignatius said the embassy has taken several drastic measures in view of the ongoing outbreak like establishing a Covid-19 Task Force to monitor the situation of the stranded Malaysians besides assisting Singaporean business travellers who do not have a representation in Uzbekistan. – Bernama, March 20, 2020.