President Solih shares Covid-19 situation with UN head

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has briefed United Nations’ Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Maldives’ Covid-19 situation.

President’s Office said that the two spoke via phone on Thursday, and that the president shared an outline “of the measures implemented at a national level to contain the virus” including the “early interventions” undertaken following the first confirmed case in the country on March 7.

He also informed the UN secretary general that the country’s situation changed on Wednesday, with the confirmation of three cases in the country’s congested capital; the number of cases from the city has since risen to five while the total number of cases are now at 25. While early interventions included measures to stop the virus from entering Maldives’ borders and spreading within communities, with the confirmation of a case in the capital the city was put into lockdown; this lockdown was extended to an additional 24 hours on Thursday afternoon and travel between all islands have been prohibited until further notice.

President Solih also emphasized that the government’s priority “remains curbing the spread”.

Furthermore, commending Guterres “for his leadership” during the crisis, the president welcomed UN’s recent establishment of the ‘Response and Recovery Fund’ to aid low and middle-income economies that have been heavily impacted by the virus’ spread as well as the secretary-general’s initiatives “to restructure debt repayment windows, and to forgive debts, for countries with vulnerable economies”.

He also requested assistance from the organization in the country’s Covid-19 efforts, and stressed that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) “are predominantly dependent on international tourism and trade, and are therefore disproportionately impacted by the measures that have to be imposed to effectively contain Covid-19”; while Maldives had first banned passengers with travel history to high risk nations before ultimately suspending issuing on-arrival visas to all countries.

President Solih ended the call by thanking the UN secretary general for taking the time to discuss Maldives’ situation amidst the ongoing pandemic.

The five new cases discovered in the last 48 hours are the first documented cases of a community spread. All previous cases were imported from either foreigners staying in resorts, or from locals that returned from abroad. 16 people have recovered, and there have been no deaths thus far.

In a televised speech on Wednesday, President Solih made an emotional appeal for everyone to "stay home and practice physical distancing" after emphasizing that there is still no cure for the coronavirus that has already taken the lives of over 145,000 people worldwide.