The outflow of workers from Bangladesh has virtually remained halted because of the jinxes of travel restrictions and new regulations of quarantine by job destination countries.
Manpower recruiters said they might see a poor volume of migration from the country like the previous year because of the fallout of the deadly virus.
They suggested that the government take effective initiatives to contain the transmission of the pathogen for the sake of economy as well as public health.
According to statistics available with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training, Bangladesh sent 217,669 workers abroad in 2020.
On the other hand, 85,242 workers have gone abroad in the first two months of current year.
Saudi Arabia announced that travellers from foreign countries would require to follow mandatory quarantine once they reach there from May 20.
As instructed, the passengers who got two shots of vaccine against Covid-19 and passed at least two weeks since the second shot will not need any hotel booking for quarantine.
They will rather be staying in home quarantine for a week after reaching the kingdom.
On the other hand, countries like the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait and Singapore recently suspended commercial flights and entry of travellers from Bangladesh following a spike in Covid-19 infection.
Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, immediate-past secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), said they largely lost in 2020 for travel ban by the receiving countries.
The trend of migration was gradually returning to normal in the beginning of 2021, but the second wave of coronavirus dealt another blow to the sector, he cited.
Had the outflow been uninterrupted, Mr Noman said, 200,000 to 300,000 workers could have gone abroad over the past few months.
But multiple manpower markets imposed a travel ban. Even the new Saudi hotel quarantine policy has severely impacted the country's overseas employment market.
Each worker will need Tk 60,000-70,000 to avail quarantine facility in Saudi Arabia.
Currently, the airfare is varying from Tk 70,000 to Tk 80,000 each.
So, Mr Noman said, a worker would need to pay about Tk 140,000 to meet airfare and hotel rent, thus leading to a high migration cost.
As workers fail to make the expenses, according to him, they cannot go to the destination.
Mintu Hossain, a worker, paid Tk 400,000 to go to Saudi Arabia as his flight was scheduled for the first week of June, but his recruiter asked an additional Tk 70,000 for quarantine facility.
"It is tough for me to arrange such a large amount of money at this moment," Mr Hossain said, adding: "I am waiting for a new decision…"
Ali Haider Chowdhury, former BAIRA secretary, said Saudi Arabia was the lone country that continued to recruit a significant number of workers following travel ban by other destinations.
Manpower recruiters were working with 70,000 visas of Saudi-bound workers. But they could not send workers due to a high cost of quarantine, he mentioned.
The government should address this problem immediately, added Mr Chowdhury.
According to Mr Noman, they communicated with their respective employers to bear the cost of hotel quarantine.
They also requested the ministries concerned to talk to their counterparts so that workers can complete quarantine at home.
Bangladesh used to send an estimated 700,000 workers abroad each year during the pre-pandemic period.
It has sent more than 13-million workers abroad since 1976. Of them, Saudi Arabia has hired about 4.2-million Bangladeshis.
