Maldives Police Service has issued over 2,000 fines for Covid-19 lockdown breaches, thus far.

Police said that a total of 2,497 fines have been issued since the lockdown was imposed less than a month ago, with 185 fines handed out on Tuesday alone.

While Malé City has been on lockdown since April 15, most of the fines were issued within the city. As such, 2,130 fines have been issued in Malé with the rest in its suburban districts Villimalé and Hulhumalé; 305 in Hulhumalé and 62 in Villimalé.

The total amount of penalties is almost MVR 2.5 million. In addition, 140 people have been arrested thus far since the lockdown.

While a person found to have violated the director general of public health's lockdown order will face a MVR 1,000 fine the first time, repeat offenders will be arrested under Article 533 (a) of the Penal Code.

Malé City was placed on lockdown following the detection of a Covid-19 community transmission. While this was extended by 24 hours, it has since been extended by 14 days, twice. Hence, the current lockdown will remain in place until May 14.