Health Protection Agency (HPA) has declared that they would be initiating an inspection in order to find tourists breaking Covid-19 regulations in outlying islands.

HPA stated that July 26th onwards, tourists were given permission to lodge in inhabited islands’ hotels and guesthouses after 60% of the island’s population is vaccinated. Tourists arriving in the Maldives are required to be vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccines approved by the Maldives Food and Drug Authority or World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Emergency Use Listing (EUL) and are obligated have completed a 14-day observation period since the inoculation of last dose.

The authority made the decision to launch the inspection following increased reports of tourists being lodged at guesthouses in islands, in violation of these regulations.

HPA said that the purpose of the inspection is to ensure the implementation of rules and regulations put in place, to avoid a further spread of coronavirus within communities.

As such, the agency said that the inspection launched on Wednesday will be conducted together with the police, tourism and economic ministries as well as the Local Government Authority (LGA).

Necessary action will be taken against those found to be in violation of rules.

The inspection comes shortly after news of 183 Indian nationals being duped in a hotel booking scam; all 183 are to have made bookings for the same four rooms at a guesthouse. While this was flagged by by Immigration officers after the name of the same guesthouse kept showing up for multiple visitors, they have been sent back from Maldives. Over 20 tourists were also stranded in Maldives capital recently, due to a similar scam.