The U.S. State Department, as of Tuesday afternoon, has helped 71,538 Americans return home after being stranded in 127 countries and territories amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic plaguing the globe.
State officials are engaged in what the department describes as an “unprecedented” repatriation effort.
As of Tuesday, the top five countries that accounted for the largest concentrations of repatriations were located in Latin America, except for one: Peru (7,315), Honduras (6,430), India (5,002), El Salvador (4,575), and Guatemala (4,541).
Together, nearly 40 percent of the total number of Americans that the State Department has helped return home were stranded in those five countries.
State officials have said that the Trump administration is using military aircraft, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deportation planes, and chartered flights to get some Americans home while asking others to avail themselves of commercial means to return whenever possible.
The United States is also “offering repatriation loans for U.S. citizens who request assistance to help pay for the flight tickets,” Hugo Yon from State’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs told reporters this month.
As of 2 p.m. on Tuesday, State had “coordinated the repatriation of 71,538 Americans on 750 flights from 127 countries and territories,” according to statistics that are updated continuously to reflect the number of repatriations.
State officials working domestically and abroad have also contracted the highly contagious and deadly coronavirus. There are 75,000 State officials in over 220 locations around the globe.
Within the United States, there were 87 “current cases” and two deaths as of Thursday. Meanwhile, the State Department was dealing with 179 “current cases” and three deaths overseas.