CANBERRA, AAP – More than 38,000 Australians stranded overseas have registered to come home as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.
Senior foreign affairs official Tony Sheehan on Friday revealed 4569 on the list of 38,523 people are considered vulnerable.
About 6000 people have indicated they do not wish to return to Australia until the final three months of the year.
That means the remaining 32,000 want to come home during this quarter.
There are 438 unaccompanied children, including 191 in India, registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Since repatriation flights from India resumed, 84 unaccompanied children have returned to Australia.
India remains the top country people are registered to come home from with 10,268, ahead of the UK at 6405.
Mr Sheehan said demand for government-facilitated commercial flights from Britain was on the rise.
“That is a country where we’ve seen the biggest recent increase,” he said.
The United States (2440), Thailand (1078), Pakistan (1018) and The Philippines (994) round out the top six.
There are around 780 Australian citizens and permanent residents in Indonesia wanting to return home.
The UK has the most vulnerable people with 1124, ahead of 497 in India and 350 in Indonesia.
More than $35 million has been loaned to 4727 people under the federal government’s hardship program.
There are six repatriation flights scheduled from London and New Delhi for next month and one apiece from Frankfurt, Johannesburg and Denpasar.
A further three flights will return 360 Olympic team members from Tokyo.
Mr Sheehan said those people would not take the place of other Australians wanting to return from overseas.
All travellers on those government-facilitated flights will quarantine at the Howard Springs hub in the Northern Territory.
The facility is expected to reach its full capacity of 2000 for the first time during August.
