All foreign tourists have been temporarily barred from checking-in at guesthouses and city hotels across the Maldives.

Minister of Tourism Ali Waheed made the announcement while speaking at a press briefing held at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) established at Dharubaaruge on Tuesday afternoon.

Highlighting that the Health Protection Agency (HPA) barred all guesthouses and hotels in the Greater Male' area from checking-in foreign tourists on Saturday, the minister revealed that the ban has been extended across the country.

The minister read out a statement by the HPA which announced that all guest houses and hotels across the entire Maldives are banned from checking-in foreign tourists for a period of 14 days, effective from 18:00 of Tuesday.

Nevertheless, all foreign tourists currently in the country are allowed to stay for the duration of their booking.

Although temporary restrictive measures have been placed on resorts, foreign tourists are still allowed into the Maldives resorts' as long as they do not arrive from, transit through or have a travel history within the past 14 days to countries with travel bans. These include China, Italy, Iran, two regions of South Korea and France, three regions of Germany, Bangladesh and most recently Malaysia and United Kindom as well.

Travel between resorts and inhabited islands has been prohibited for a two-week period under the temporary restrictions and excursions have also been halted across the country.

HPA states that these 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 on Thursday.