And while those 7 have returned and are now starting their two week quarantine, there are still 587 Belizeans out there in the world who have applied to be repatriated.
And many of them are growing increasingly impatient, not for style, but because they're out of money, out of lodging, or very sick, and a whole bunch of reasons why getting home is not a luxury, but a dire necessity.
We spoke to CEO Burns about the many Belizeans with no direction home and asked her what message she has for them:
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"What is your message for persons who feel they are out there adrift and that they registered among the 587 who registered and you all have them out of sight, out of mind?"
H.E. Annie Burns, CEO - Foreign Affairs
"No one is out of sight and out of mind. You would be surprised how many people we are in touch with every evening sending emails back and forth, even if we are not in a position to resolve the situation. I can appreciate that people are frustrated because they have submitted an application and we could not create a scenario as much as people would like to come home immediately even if the flights were available to say okay everybody come in 200 or 300 at once, because those may be small numbers for other countries, but those numbers if they are cases and there will be cases of people who are infected in those groups it will be unlikely if we were so lucky and bless that everyone who came in is absolutely clear. That would be the ideal, but we don't live in an ideal world and we have an obligation to plan for it and so it won't be as fast as people want, so what we are trying to do is to work through the numbers ensure that everybody can be accommodated, try to secure prices that are reasonable at the quarantine hotels where they have to stay because we are trying to do in cycles of 17 days. That essentially 14 days quarantine, 3 days to ensure that there is good sanitizing of all of the area and we begin again and each time incrementing the group. So I am hopeful we will be able to get our Belizeans home. We will try to bring in as many as we can. I can't give you a forecast in terms of exactly by what date we will all have them here because that is out of our control."
Repatriation applications are screened and sorted, with priority according to persons with chronic medical conditions, those in acute distress, those travelling with young children, and those at higher risk from being affected by COVID-19. Final approval for each and every repatriation rests with the Minister of National Security.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Belizeans who have applied for repatriation include 239 in the USA, 35 in Mexico, 32 in Guatemala, 20 in Peru, 19 in Cuba, 19 in Honduras, 17 in the UK, 14 in El Salvador, 11 across Europe, six in Guyana, six in Taiwan, 11 in Jamaica, four in Costa Rica, one in Panama, seven in India, four in Bolivia, three in Barbados, two in Colombia, one in Lebanon, one in Saudi Arabia, one in the United Arab Emirates, one in The Philippines, one in Nigeria, and one who has travelled from Tanzania.
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