The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and banks will be open three days in the coming week.

This was revealed by the central bank following the government’s extension on the decision to close state offices, schools and educational institutes for an additional week due to the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

As such MMA and banks will be open for services through Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, said the authority.

Further, the authority revealed that they will be open for banking services from 09:30am to 12:30pm and loose change will be accepted and issued from 09:30am to 11am on the aforementioned days.

Institutions and individuals who do not use the GEMS portal may submit their letters and other documents to the central bank via email at[email protected].

As a precautionary measure against the spread of Covid-19, all government offices, institutions and schools have been closed for another week following the outbreak in the Maldives which began on 7 March. The public holiday was initially declared for a one-week period from 19 March onwards. However, it has been extended four times since.

As of Thursday, there are 19 confirmed cases in the Maldives, and the government is taking several precautionary and restrictive measures including announcing a curfew which lasted for a week. The curfew was lifted on Thursday.