The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) has arranged to grant a sum of Rs.500,000 to family members of Lankan workers who died due to to COVID-19 while being employed in Middle Eastern countries.
The money will be paid to family members of workers who registered with the SLFEB before their departure and will be paid through the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation.
In cases where the registration have expired, a sum of Rs. 300,000 will be given from funds of SLFEB.
Meanwhile the SLFEB is also giving a sum of Rs 40,000 to families for performing religious rites and other rituals of such workers.
A FEB official sad that bodies of workers who died of COVID-19 are not being brought back to Sri Lanka because of the risk involved in the handling and threat of infection.
Around 40 Lankans who were working in ME countries have so far died due to the coronavirus.