RaajjeTV goes into second lockdown

A number of staff from privately-run television station, RaajjeTV have set up camp at the station as it went into a second lockdown late Thursday.

The station was locked down at 12am, Friday, for a period of 14 days.

The decision was reached as a safety measure against the ever-changing situation of the new coronavirus pandemic across the country, to protect the staff members from the virus and ensure RaajjeTV’s services are provided uninterruptedly.

The station’s Deputy CEO Naazmee Saeed revealed that the management saw it fit to make the decision in order to ensure journalists are able to tackle the hindrances surfacing due to the worsening situation surrounding the pandemic.

As RaajjeTV’s staff set up camp at its premises late Thursday, it has been closed off to the public.

Employees that have not been stationed at RaajjeTV will work from home until the 14-day period ends.

Entry and exit from the building has also been banned and disinfection will be carried out for food items that are brought for the camping staff.

The first-ever round-the-clock television station in the Maldives has been working on the frontlines of media to provide updates of the pandemic to the people and is the first station to have introduced a coverage specialized for the Covid-19 situation across the globe.

Included in the station’s work to provide the latest updates to the people are a 24-hour live blog and statistics on RaajjeMV’s website as well as the freshest, latest news. RaajjeMV’s live blog garnered over 900,000 viewers.

In mid-April, a number of the staff went into lockdown at the station for over a month, after authorities imposed a lockdown across the region after the discovery of a cluster of Covid-19 cases in the country’s capital. Since then, a record number of infections were being reported from the city. The government began lockdown easing on May 29 and since it entered the third phase of lockdown easing, the number of cases being reported daily, saw a surge.