59,560 persons are currently awaiting second doses of Covid-19 vaccination nationwide.

According to the latest figures publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), 293 second doses and 1,099 first doses were administered on Saturday under the government’s “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive.

1,392 persons received vaccination doses across the Maldives on Saturday including 167 Greater Malé residents and 1,225 residents of outlying atolls.

As such, 239 residents of atolls and 54 across the capital region received first doses, whereas 986 atoll residents and 113 Greater Malé residents were administered second shots.

With this development, the total number of persons who have received first doses currently sits at 390,965, with 331,405 persons having completed both doses.

There are currently three mobile teams across six vaccination centers in the capital region, as well as 176 vaccination centers spanning outlying atolls.

The incumbent administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih launched the “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive on February 1.

HPA announced restrictions for unvaccinated persons from September 1 earlier, however, it has since been revealed that the implementation of the restrictions will be delayed, as the government is currently working on launching an adequate application through which unvaccinated persons may be tracked and monitored.

Restrictions that unvaccinated persons will be facing include a ban on domestic travel and disallowing tourists to check in to guesthouses if they are unvaccinated. Further, civil servants who have not been vaccinated yet will also be required to present negative PCR test results every 14 days.

Although the government earlier targeted to vaccinate 95 percent of those eligible through the free vaccination drive by the beginning of September, authorities have revealed that they are not far from reaching the goal. By the beginning of the ongoing month, 85 percent of the eligible population aged 18 and above had received first doses and 84 percent of the eligible population above 12 years had received doses as well.

Authorities only recently launched a vaccination drive for children aged 12 to 17. By September 11, 35,152 students had received first doses, according to the Ministry of Education. These are students across 214 schools. 11,653 students have also received second doses, across 88 schools. The ministry aims to vaccinate 40,000 students under the programme, after having received a batch of 128,700 Pfizer doses through the COVAX Facility.

Authorities continue to urge the public to receive their vaccination shots, in order to help curb complications from the virus.