The country’s central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and other banks will be open three days in the next two weeks.

This was revealed by the central bank following the government’s extension on the lockdown imposed across the Greater Malé Region on April 15 by an additional fortnight as well as to enforce the decision to close state offices, schools and educational institutes for an additional period, provoked by the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

As such MMA and banks will be open for services through May 18, a Monday, May 20, a Tuesday and May 26, a Tuesday, said the authority.

Further, the authority revealed that they will be open for banking services from 09:30am to 12pm, only for essential banking and the bank will be closed for services to the general public.

As a precautionary measure against the spread of Covid-19, all government offices, institutions and schools have been closed until May 28. The public holiday was initially declared for a one-week period from March 19. However, it has been extended a number of times since. Further, the lockdown that was set to end on May 14 has been pushed until May 28, as well.

On Friday, the number of confirmed cases in the country crossed 1,000, and the government is taking several precautionary and restrictive measures to control and curb the spread of the disease, with authorities revealing that the country is possibly headed towards a surge in the coming weeks.