PUTRAJAYA, April 21 — The government has helped bring home 11,363 Malaysians who were stranded in 68 countries in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic since a month ago, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said so far, 511 Malaysians are still stranded in 22 nations.

"Wisma Putra (the Foreign Ministry) is working on bringing them back home,” he told reporters at an inter-ministerial collaboration cluster on Covid-19 vaccine and medication development through international collaboration, at the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry here today.

According to Hishammuddin, most of the Malaysians who were repatriated were not funded by the government as they returned home through sponsorship or their own expense.

He added that Wisma Putra was given the task and responsibility to facilitate government-to-government (G-to-G) ties to ensure that Malaysian aircraft could land in the foreign countries.

"This is because we are aware that the respective countries are also implementing lockdowns. The good relations with Malaysia allows the landing of Malaysian aircraft at their airports,” he explained.

Hishammuddin said Italy and Iran were Wisma Putra’s top prioritiy countries where special aircraft were used to bring back Malaysians.

"This is because both the countries are seen as epicentres of the Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from that, all (the others) are sponsored flights,” he added. — Bernama