85 individuals are currently placed in temporary shelters amid the Covid-19 crisis, reveals the Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services.

The Greater Malé Region was locked down on 15 April following the discovery of the first community transmission and since then, the ministry revealed that they received the most number of cases related to shelter. As such, they received 40 cases linked to housing.

Officers of the Maldives Police Service (MPS) began these rescue efforts on the day of the lockdown, in cooperation with the ministry and the Maldives Red Crescent.

According to the statistics publicized by the ministry on Twitter, there are 13 resort employees who were in the Greater Malé Region when the lockdown was imposed, 11 who were in the region after being released from prison and six individuals who were forced to evacuate their homes after failing to pay rent.

Out of the 85, 15 are homeless individuals who were rescued while stranded on the streets as well as 12 individuals who were in the region for medical purposes.

Further, eight individuals were in the region for other purposes and the most number of individuals out of the total are drug users, 20.

This comes at a time Maldives observed the first day of Ramadan 1441 on Friday, and two local NGOs, the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) and the National Boating Association of Maldives (NBAM) have taken the initiative to provide meals for those under state care.