page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Suriname
section_title: Repatriation
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Suriname / Repatriation
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Onrust bij KLM over repatriatievlucht English: Offices of Air France–KLM after the borders of Suriname closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
context_page_description: The COVID-19 pandemic in Suriname is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Suriname on 13 March 2020. The case was a person who travelled from the Netherlands the previous week. On 3 April 2020, one person died. On 3 May 2020, all nine cases had recovered. On 18 May, an eleventh case was identified.
context_section_description: The closure of the borders initially caused concern with both foreigners inside Suriname and Surinamese people aboard. Suriname is a former colony of the Netherlands and shares Dutch as the official language, therefore there are always a large amount people going back and forth between the countries.
  Initially some repatriation flights were allowed including flights to the Netherlands, but the level of infections aboard and the identification of two cases on a flight from Aruba  resulted in concern.
  On 3 April, a group of Dutch people in Suriname were scheduled to be repatriated, but there was an issue with the plane which resulted it in arriving a day late. They have been housed in two hotels where they had been quarantined, because Dutch citizens from Guyana were on the same flight. A second plane had repatriated them on 5 April.
  On 7 April, Danielle Veira announced that the repatriation of Surinamese people abroad was postponed for the time being. It was also announced that home quarantine would not be allowed anymore, because of some people kept leaving their house despite being quarantined.
  As of 9 April, there were 893 stranded people of which 603 were in the Netherlands and 88 in the United States. A total 513 people from abroad in Suriname had been repatriated.
  On 14 April, Danielle Veira contacted Irene Lalji, a lawyer representing a hundred stranded citizens in the Netherlands, to inform her that they were preparing to schedule a first flight for repatriation that week, and increasing the capacity for quarantine.
  On 15 April, a group of over Trinidadian 40 people within the country were reported to be in a "desperate" situation. 33 people of the group had been hired by Staatsolie, the national oil company. Despite multiple contacts to the Consulate and CARICOM, no plans to repatriate them had been made. On 30 April, a chartered a plane was scheduled that was able to return them.
  
  The first repatriation flight from Amsterdam to Paramaribo had been announced on 19 April. On 20 April, the first 200 people were brought home. Veira stressed that they would be quarantined in Hotel Babylon, Royal Torarica, and Eco resort on return. On 21 April, the plane returned Dutch people stranded in Suriname.
  On 24 April, Jessurun said that four bodies of recently deceased persons in the Netherlands could not be flown to Suriname. Two of the four had died of COVID-19.
  
  There is a group of Cubans stranded in Suriname without money. Veira has indicated that a repatriation flight is being considered.
  On 4 May, the next phase of repatriation was announced: 6 May: Belém, Brazil, 7 May: Guyana, 8 May: the second group of 220 people in the Netherlands. The flight to Belém had been postponed to 7 May to allow for Brazilians stranded in Suriname. 15 May: India.
  On 15 May, 11 out of 23 people from India had been repatriated via India. Those still stranded would have to contact the embassy.
  As of 15 May, there would be no more repatriation flights for the time being, which has also been due to the fact that there were 576 people in quarantine.
caption: 16 March at the offices of Air France–KLM
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