Maldives has initiated stringent temporary restrictions on the tourism industry as a preventive measure against the spread of Covid-19.

On Saturday, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced that guesthouses and hotels in the Greater Male' area are banned from checking-in foreign tourists.

As per the statement, all guest houses and hotels in the Greater Male' Area (which includes Male' City, Villingili and Hulhumale') are banned from checking-in foreign tourists as of midnight on Saturday for a period of 14 days.

In a separate statement, HPA announced that temporary restrictive measures have been placed on resorts as well.

The statement reads that all travel between resorts and inhabited islands are banned for a two-week period.

HPA states that the decisions were made under the discretionary powers granted to the Director-General of Public Health as per section 34 of the Public Health Act following the declaration of a state of health emergency.

The decisions comes shortly after the Maldives confirmed the country's 10th positive case of Covid-19 on Saturday. So far, all confirmed cases have been foreign nationals.