The Civil Court has issued an order to take two individuals who obstructed police orders to be taken into quarantine, into a quarantine facility.

The court revealed that the individuals, two Maldivians, refused to go into quarantine upon being ordered to do so, following which the court issued an order enforcing Maldives Police Service (MPS) and relevant authorities to take the individual into a quarantine facility.

Due to confidentiality, these court orders are not publicized.

Refusing to be taken into quarantine is described as a violation of the Public Health Act of the country and courts are mandated to release orders to do the needful in such cases. The act also mandates all individuals to share accurate information during a State of Public Health Emergency, which was declared across Maldives on 12 March.

On April 20, the court ordered for two more individuals to be taken into a quarantine facility upon refusing to obey orders as well, on April 25, the court ordered police to take a Maldivian into quarantine and two days later, a similar order was issued to take an Austrian national into quarantine.

The Greater Malé Region has been locked down following the discovery of the first Covid-19 community transmission on April 15. Other measures taken under this include banning travel between inhabited islands.

Following the increase in the number of positive cases, a number of islands have been brought under monitoring and a number of individuals are also being taken into quarantine under the contact tracing process.