Coronavirus border closures and restrictions have stranded nearly 3 million migrants around the world who want to return home but cannot, the UN migration agency says, adding some had been "warehoused" in unhygienic settings.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The International Organisation for Migration report is the most comprehensive to date on the issue, covering more than 100 countries.
It includes only migrants who want to return but are unable to do so because of the COVID-19 restrictions - such as seafarers stuck on decommissioned ships, miners or construction workers.
"It should be clear that migrants can be returned home in a safe and dignified manner despite the constraints imposed by COVID-19," said Director General, Antonio Vitorino in a statement, urging dialogue between countries.
Some stranded migrants have been confined in unclean quarters and where physical distancing was impossible, placing them at risk of disease.
Others face abuse, exploitation and neglect, the report said.
The worst region by far is the Middle East and North Africa which accounts for 1.275 million of the total of 2.75 million in the IOM tally.
Second was Asia with nearly a million.
IOM spokesman Paul Dillon said that 648,000 stranded migrants were in the United Arab Emirates and were often construction labourers from east Africa and Asia while 280,000 were stuck in Saudi Arabia.
Others are stuck on board idle cruise ships, often not even granted the opportunity to go above deck.
"It's a very dire situation to be trapped below deck for six months," he said, urging better treatment.
"Migrants are key, they are central, to a robust global economy."
The IOM praised recent successes however, such as an agreement to allow 3400 Mozambican miners to cross back into South Africa after medical screenings, and a deal between the UAE and India on migrant workers.
More than 36.5 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and 1,060,997 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Europe surpassed 100,000 daily reported COVID-19 cases for the first time on Thursday after countries such as Russia and United Kingdom registered no respite in the mounting number of infections every day in the past five days.
Cases throughout Europe have been steadily rising over the past week even as new infections in worst-affected countries such as India and Brazil have shown signs of slowing down.
The epicentre of the outbreak in the European region has moved to the United Kingdom, Russia, Spain and France which have reported at least 10,000 cases each in the last three days.
Russia reported its highest daily coronavirus cases ever since the last record in May on Friday, prompting Moscow authorities to mull closing bars and nightclubs.
India reported another 70,496 new infections in the past 24 hours, taking the country's total since the pandemic began to more than 6.9 million.
The Health Ministry on Friday also reported 964 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities to 106,490.
India is averaging more than 70,000 cases daily so far this month and has reported the second most total cases in the world behind the US.
Australian Associated Press
