State of public health emergency across Maldives, extended until September 6

The state of public health emergency declared across the Maldives, has been extended.

In an announcement on Friday night, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed that the extension is until September 6.

While this is the sixth time the health emergency period has been extended, it was last extended on July 14 and expired on Friday.

The extension comes under the recommendation of the Director General of Public Health Maimoona Aboobakuru who has recommended special measures to ensure the safety of the people and curb the spread of the infection.

The Ministry of Health revealed that there are growing fears that Covid-19 could spread across the island nation, in light of which the state of public health emergency was extended.

Maldives initially declared the state of public health emergency on March 12, four days after the first Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the country on March 7 and the Health Minister, Abdulla Ameen noted that the emergency was declared in order to remove administrative obstacles and to swiftly impose the necessary public health measures.

The State of Public Health Emergency was declared by the Director-General of Public Health under the powers granted to her by article 33 of the public health act.

This is the first time in Maldivian history that such a declaration has been imposed.

While the Greater Malé Region went into a full lockdown following the detection of a community spread on April 15, it was proven to be effective in curbing the spread of the virus. Cases began spiraling after the government introduced a lockdown ease plan on May 29 and the country saw a record number of 500 cases within less than a week. In light of this, the authorities imposed a seven-hour curfew last Tuesday, effective from 10pm to 5pm.

Authorities have since assured that strict action will be taken on curfew violators.