A total of MVR 560 million has been spent on Covid-19 response efforts thus far.
The Covid-19 taskforce’s spokesperson Mohamed Mabrook Aziz revealed this during Sunday night’s press conference at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC).
Noting that a total of MVR 560 million had been spent on Covid-19 combat efforts by Saturday, the spokesperson detailed these expenses;
- MVR 84 million from the disaster trust fund; used by the State Trading Organization to stock up on staples for the next ten months, amount to be returned to fund afterwards
- MVR 11 million from tourism trust fund
- MVR 384 million by health ministry and National Disaster Management Authority; for the purchase of medical equipment and consumables, test equipment, personal protective gear, setting up reagents as well as the operations of NEOC and Rapid Response Teams + miscellaneous expenses
- MVR 36 million on Hulhumalé medical facility; including MVR 16.4 million on civil works and about MVR 19.5 million on medical equipment
- MVR 7.3 million on Farukolhufushi Isolation facility
- MVR 27 million on ICU and isolation beds in five areas across the country
- MVR 6.3 million by foreign ministry; to bring back medical students abroad as well to assist those stranded
Further, Mabrook noted that the estimated expenditure amount for the next three months is MVR 1.4 billion.
While Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer had revealed this at a press conference last week, he had stressed that this is an estimation and that the expenditure will depend on the spread and control of the virus.
Maldives has confirmed a total of 214 Covid-19 cases thus far, with 73 new cases announced within the last 24 hours.
