The Maldives Civil Aviation Authority has publicized a circular on precautionary measures against Covid-19, to be followed by airlines, aircraft operators and relevant airport authorities.
This comes at a time the Maldives government has announced that they are set to reopen borders on July 15, as part of the planned activities outlined to further ease the existing restrictions in place against the global pandemic.
With the purpose to advice the airlines, aircraft operators and relevant airport authorities on the health measures taken by the government related to the entry of passengers and crew, the circular was published on Saturday.
Under the requirements of the circular, tourists travelling to the Maldives will be provided on-arrival visas and must have a hotel reservation confirmation for the entire stay in a registered tourist facility.
Further, all arrivals are subject to complete their online Health Declaration Forms before arrival. This shall be done within 24 hours before arrival.
The circular goes on to note that crew onboard flights are required to make inflight announcements as follows,
- If passengers developed any of the following symptoms; fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose or breathing difficulty, they are to remain in their seats and inform the cabin crew,
- Passengers are advised to wear the face mask at all times during the flights,
- Passengers are advised to inform the immigration desk of the Border Health Desk if they develop symptoms upon arrival.
- Passengers are advised to call the Covid-19 hotline 1676 and inform them if any symptoms are developed.
In addition, the circular notes that airlines must ensure that safety measures are followed during the flight.
It is the responsibility of the passenger and crew to fulfil the health requirements for the country of departure and passengers must carry the required test results with them when arriving at the check-in counter for departure, reads the circular.
These requirements apply to all international airlines, aircraft operations to and from Maldives and relevant airport authorities in the island nation.
The circular comes into effect from July 15 and will replace the Air Transport Circulars dated between February 2 to March 23 this year.
