The Local Government Authority (LGA) has revealed that a total of 333 island residents who wish to return home after having been stranded in the Maldives capital, Malé City due to the lockdown imposed on April 15, have been quarantined thus far.

Joining the routinely press briefing at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) on Tuesday afternoon, the Director General of LGA, Adam Shareef revealed that a total of 308 individuals have been quarantined in resorts thus far. This includes individuals who were there for medical reasons as well as those who got stranded due to the lockdown.

Further, 17 individuals have been quarantine at Hulhumalé, said Shareef. He added that this includes individuals who had visited Malé for medical reasons and are vulnerable after having been discharged from the hospital.

Eight individuals have been released from quarantine thus far.

He went on to highlight that more individuals will be taken into quarantine facilities in accordance with space availability.

Earlier, authorities revealed that there are thousands of island residents stranded in the Maldives capital Malé who wish to return home.

As such, a total of 5,000 individuals stranded in the capital, who have registered to return to their respective islands.

Tourism Minister Ali Waheed revealed that work is currently underway to short list the individuals whose need to return home is greater.

Highlighting that there are number of resort workers stranded in the capital region after coming for a brief visit prior to the lockdown, the minister noted that arrangements are being made to allocate 500 rooms from guesthouses to accommodate these resort workers. With this and the 500 rooms allocated for island residents stranded in the capital, a total of 1,000 rooms have been allocated for quarantine.

Those taken into transit quarantine will be required to complete the 14-day period and will only be allowed to return home after Covid-19 testing is carried out and their results come back negative.