The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced that students traveling to the Maldives in order to attend and study at Maldivian universities, colleges or schools now need to observe a 10-day quarantine period.

HPA said that changes were being brought to help control the spread of Covid-19 in the Maldives as per Article 12 of the Public Health Protection Act, and that the new regulations will come into effect on Monday.

Among travelers entering the Maldives from foreign countries, the new HPA guidelines require students who would attend and study at Maldivian schools, colleges and universities to quarantine at home for a 10-day period. HPA said that students would be released from quarantine if they receive a negative PCR test after 10 days.

As per a previous guideline, locals and visa holders returning to capital Male' region where a number of educational institutes are located, are no longer required to quarantine. However, those traveling to other areas of the country still have to quarantine for 10 days.

HPA also requires these travelers to have a negative PCR test taken in under 96 hours to travel when they enter the Maldives.

HPA is now working with relevant authorities to implement changes, and members of the public are encouraged to follow these new guidelines and regulations in order to curb the spread of Covid-19 among Maldivian communities.