Four people were fined for violating the face mask mandate on Saturday.

While Maldives is currently in the third phase of lockdown easing, authorities decided to make face masks mandatory in public last week as part of the efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 following a surge in daily new cases. Those in violation of the mask order are being fined MVR 1,000.

Police on Saturday announced that they will be enforcing this “strictly”.

A total of 116 people were let go without a warning between 1pm to 9pm on Saturday for not wearing masks in public, while four were fined.

Speaking at Saturday’s Covid-19 press briefing, the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC)’s spokesperson appealed to all to follow all infection prevention measures, in addition to wearing a mask in public.

She also stressed the importance of consulting at a flu clinic, given any symptoms.

Health officials have appealed to the public to stay home unless absolutely necessary given that Covid-19 projections show a huge surge in cases in the next few weeks.