Maldives Police Service (MPS) has arrest a man in connection to a child sexual assault case reported from an island in the upper-north province.

Police revealed that officers in the upper-north province of the Maldives comprising of Haa Dhaal, Haa Alif and Shaviyani atolls, received the report on Saturday and a 53-year-old Maldivian man has been arrested for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy.

The man was arrested at around 01:20am on Friday and police earlier assured that they investigate cases related to sexual assault against children, as serious cases.

While the case is under further investigation, police refrained from divulging information regarding the victim as it is confidential.

Earlier, it was revealed that several cases of child abuse were identified through the Maldives Child Protection Database (MCPD) during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, there have been concerns regarding child abuse risks amid the pandemic.

With this being said, the Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services has since assured that their work is ongoing without interruption and that measures to monitor abuse cases have been put in place as well.

Covid-19 spokesperson, Mohamed Mabrook Aziz has also assured that the Ministry of Education is monitoring household situation of children who have been identified as vulnerable and at risk of abuse.

This comes at a time international experts have warned of an increase in child sexual abuse risks due to possible victims as well as offenders having to be placed in isolation for a long period of time due to the measures being taken to curb the pandemic. Schools, educational institutes and government office have been closed for two weeks as part of the restrictive measures being taken in the face of the pandemic.