India’s Gulf workers in Covid-19 reverse migration chaos

This comes after Saudi and UAE mass deportations of migrant workers last year as part of controversial plans to curtail the spread of the virus.

While not a Gulf state, Jordan also pressured expats to leave the kingdom, temporarily waiving all exit fines in a bid to prioritise jobs for its own nationals.

The Indian state of Kerala has been hit particularly hard by these initiatives, given that it sends more workers - 2.5 million - to the Gulf than any other country, 40 percent of the total.

Figures show that over 1.1 million Gulf workers have returned home over the past 10 months.

Of these, 7 in 10 had been made unemployed from the construction, hospitality, and domestic service industries.

The toll on workers and their families has been catastrophic.

Shamna Khan, a disabled 30-year-old woman, previously did not have to work.

Her husband supported her with his relatively well-paid job in a Qatari shopping mall.

When he was laid off a year ago, however, Shamna had to take a government-backed position doing manual labour for 300 rupees per day.

"I am happy to work as I can support my family, but my leg is prone to infections," she told Reuters.

These accounts highlight the often-hidden plight of migrant workers across the Middle East, a crisis which coronavirus has significantly exacerbated.

When the pandemic hit, groups like Amnesty International revealed the shocking conditions labourers were quarantined in.

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