The government of Maldives is to halt all excursions, as a safeguard against the rapidly-spreading Covid-19 which reached Maldives last weekend.

The measure is being taken to contain an outbreak, revealed the Health Protection Agency (HPA), after eight people test positive for the virus in the country.

HPA said that the decision was made following the declaration of a state of public emergency on Thursday.

As such, "all and any excursion activity from islands, tourist resorts, safaris, guest houses" have been banned for a period of 10 days.

The agency noted that this "is a restrictive measure to strengthen the disease containment efforts to ensure the safety and security of everyone in the Greater Male' Region, in addition to those travelling to Maldives".