No decision yet on lockdown extension: spokesperson

Authorities have yet to make a decision on extending the lockdown announced in the greater Malé region.

Covid-19 taskforce’s spokesperson Mohamed Mabrook Aziz stated this at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC)’s daily press conference on Tuesday night.

Mabrook said that all teams involved in Covid-19 efforts hold daily discussions on the Covid1-9 situation in the country, adding that these are expected to intensify in these two days.

While the region has been on lockdown since April 15, the current lockdown will end on April 30.

The spokesperson said that authorities will act as per the instructions of the health experts.

Member of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Dr. Ibrahim Afzal had previously said that the lockdown can only be lifted after seeing a decrease in number of Covid-19 cases. He had noted that the cases emerging following lockdown “is a backlog of cases”.

At a press conference held on Sunday, Health Minister Abdulla Ameen had said that the city is ‘not in a state for lockdown to be lifted’. Cases have been confirmed in the north since, with a community transmission detected in Narudhoo island of Shaviyani atoll.

While a community transmission was first detected on April 15, with a woman with no travel history testing positive for the virus, the capital has been on lockdown since. The lockdown was initially announced for a 24-hour period but was extended by 24 hours and then an additional 14 days.