The 24-hour lockdown declared across the Greater Malé Region has been extended.

This was revealed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) via an announcement on Thursday afternoon.

According to the announcement by the authority on Wednesday, the lockdown was imposed after a Maldivian national tested positive for Covid-19 in the Maldives capital earlier on Wednesday.

The lockdown was effective for a period of 24 hours from 03:30pm, Wednesday.

Since the first community-transmitted case emerged from a Maldivian with no travel history in the congested capital, a total of three individuals have tested positive to the virus in Malé and authorities revealed that the lockdown will be extended if required. Since then, several houses in the capital have also been placed under monitoring and over 50 individuals have been taken into isolation.

Thus far, a total of 3,432 samples have been taken out of which 3,139 have tested negative and 23, positive. Test results are pending for 270 samples.

During the lockdown period, operating vehicles on the roads is banned and public transport services have also been suspended. As part of the lockdown, no one is allowed to leave or enter any of the islands in the Greater Malé Region either.

Exceptions to the lockdown include: