All arrivals to the Maldives from the United Kingdom between 14 – 19 March are to be tested for Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19).

The government’s Covid-19 spokesperson, Mohamed Mabrook Aziz, revealed the decision to run tests on all arrivals from the UK within the given time period at Tuesday night’s press conference.

This comes after three Maldivians who returned from UK tested positive to the virus; they had been placed under quarantine upon return.

The decision was made by the technical advisory group of the taskforce.

Arrivals from UK within the given time period amounts to 50 and contact tracing is underway for all of them in order to avoid community spread.

As part of the government’s efforts to curb the spread of the disease in the country, Maldives placed travel restrictions, banning entry of all arrivals from UK into Maldives on 19 March.

Further, Mabrook also revealed that two Maldivians arrived on Tuesday out of which showed symptoms similar to that of Covid-19. One has been taken to Velidhu Island Resort and the other to Bandos Island Resort.

The spokesperson went on to reveal that Seven Corals guesthouse in Maafushi island of Kaafu atoll and Rihiveli The Dream Hotel Maldives Resort has been placed under monitoring in order to take samples.

The monitoring measures placed on Ark Safari have been lifted.

A total of 866 individuals have been quarantined thus far and 16 have been placed under isolation at the facility in Velidhu Island Resort.

A total of 228 individuals consulted at Flu Clinics established across the capital on Tuesday alone, said Mabrook.

Out of the 1,137 samples taken, 1,114 have tested negative to the infection thus far, with results of five samples pending and 18 positive cases. 13 of the 18 total patients have recovered from the flu and three Maldivians are currently being treated for the disease in the Maldives. Two other patients, Italians onboard Island Safari 1 where two positive cases emerged, departed to Italy on Friday and the authorities received their test results after the flight took off. They have since been quarantined in Russia.