Thiruvananthapuram, While the Kerala model has been globally lauded for containing the COVID-19 disease, but expats from God's own country settled in the Middle East have not been able to fight the virus as well, with the toll of Keralaites settle in the Gulf nation touching 100 on Saturday.

The lure of the Middle East over the last four decades with the remittance economy has been the back bone of Kerala for years.

UAE has had the highest death toll of 62, followed by Kuwait-18, Saudi Arabia-17, Oman-2 and Qatar-1.

According to studies, there are an estimated 2.5 million Keralaite's in the Middle East. The dead were not brought back, but buried in foreign lands, as according to protocall.

Ever since the Kerala government opened a web portal for all those who wished to return, close to four lakh people, a huge majority from across the Middle East, have registered.

"It's really sad to hear the grieving of people whose near and dear passed away due to Covid in these countries, but are not able to bring their bodies for the last rites to their home town. All we can wish and hope at the moment is things clear up fast and normalcy returns," said a leading politician, who did not wished to be identified.