Dep. and State Ministers assigned as Covid-19 coordinators for different atolls

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced a decision to appoint Deputy Ministers and State Ministers as coordinators for Covid-19 response efforts across atolls, leading citizens to question why the appointment of political leaders to do so had been necessary following the election of largely autonomous local councils in April.

The Ministry of Health had publicized the decision in a statement released on Saturday, revealing that political appointees of the Solih administration employed as Deputy and State Ministers for various ministries would be appointed as lead coordinators to further improve pandemic response across atolls.

These coordinators will be working in conjunction with Covid-19 taskforces and local councils. The controversial decision by President Solih, which some have criticized goes against the principles of decentralization and local governance, comes at a time the Maldives had been reported more than a thousand new Covid-19 cases every day. Others have described the move to place political appointees at the head of pandemic response for atolls as violating the President's earlier pledge to have powers of the central government distributed among local councils following their election in April 2021.

Spokesperson for the President's Office Mabrook Azeez was quoted in clarifying that the President had only appointed coordinators for Covid-19 response efforts across the Maldives, and that no powers had been taken away from local councils. He added that the newly-elected councils will still be working autonomously with HPA to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

A number of islands across Maldives have been placed under monitoring due to confirmed community spread of the deadly infection, with curfews and travel restrictions imposed nationwide.

The ongoing month of May has seen the most Covid-19 fatalities reported in the Maldives to date, with a record 13 deaths linked to the infection confirmed on Monday alone.