Travelers from South Asia will be allowed into the Maldives from July 15, but only if they are traveling to resorts.

This was announced during a press briefing hosted on Wednesday to update the public regarding the eases to restrictions in the face of Covid-19. As such the President’s Office Spokesperson Mabrook Azeez revealed that tourists traveling from South Asia will be allowed into Maldives from July 15 but only to those staying at resorts.

With this, as well as the additional eases announced to resort employees, Mabrook said that resorts will need to establish permanent Covid-19 testing centres.

Further, travelers from South Asia will be allowed to travel to islands with guesthouses from July 30. Mabrook said that in the meantime, the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) is working to ensure that 60 percent of the population of islands that welcome these travelers are vaccinated. Further, at least 95 percent of guesthouse employees have to be vaccinated.

This the spokesperson said, is to ensure the positivity rate is reduced as well as maintaining hospitalization rates.

Work permit holders from South Asia will be allowed to travel to Maldives from Wednesday, with the requirement to undergo quarantine and undergo a PCR test 48 to 72 hours after they arrive.

After the Covid-19 situation worsened in the South Asian region, Maldivian authorities halted issuing visas to travelers from South Asia on May 11.

In addition, HPA is also to allow resort employees who have been fully vaccinated and observed 14 days since, to travel to islands where there are no monitoring measures without having to quarantine.

Mabrook highlighted that over 70 percent of resort workers have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and positivity rate at resorts are also progressively low.

After discussions to provide eases for resort workers, the government has decided to mandate resorts to conduct monthly active surveillance programmes where random samples are collected from 10 percent of employees for Covid-19 testing. If this is done, resort workers will be allowed to travel to islands that are not under monitoring, without the need to quarantine, if they are fully vaccinated and have observed 14 days since.