Maldives Police Service (MPS) took action on a total of 71 individuals for violating the lockdown imposed across the Greater Malé Region, on Thursday.

This is less compared to the lockdown violations recorded the previous day, which was at 124.

This was revealed by the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in their daily publication of statistics for lockdown violations, on Friday morning.

While 114 individuals were fined on Wednesday, the number reduced to 68 on Thursday, this includes 62 individuals from Malé City, two from Hulhumalé and four from Villimalé.

The total number of individuals fined for breaching the lockdown sits at 3,892 and the fines have reached MVR 3,892,000 in total.

A total of 10 individuals were arrested on Wednesday and police revealed that only three individuals were arrested the next day.

This pushes the total number of individuals under police custody for violating the lockdown orders, to 210, this includes 191 from Malé, 17 from Hulhumalé and two from Villimalé.

The government had issued permits to go outdoors for essentials every day since the lockdown was imposed, allowing one individual from each household to go out for essential supplies. However, all grocery permits issued by the authority was reduced to once a week. This was done as a restrictive measure to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Maldives, that the authorities had predicted for the next few weeks.

The authority has been publicizing their daily statistics for action taken on lockdown violators since the lockdown was imposed across the Greater Malé Region on April 15 after the first case of community transmission of the Covid-19 pandemic was discovered.

Under the orders of the Director General of Public Health, violators of the lockdown will be slapped with MVR 1,000 fines the first time round and repeat offenders will be arrested under Article 533 (a) of the Penal Code.

Authorities have continuously been pushing the public to obey guidelines set by the HPA for the safety and security of the community, stressing that the entire community is put at risk of contracting the virus due to a number of individuals who do not follow instructions set by the authorities for the safety of the community.

The lockdown was initially set to end of Thursday, however, authorities pushed it to another fortnight on Wednesday.