President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Saturday ordered the closure of all government offices from 19 to 30 April, following the full lockdown of the Greater Malé area for 14 days.
Health Protection Agency (HPA) ordered complete restriction of movement and ban on all vehicles and public transport services during this period, as a measure to contain the COVID-19 outbreak in the country that has now reached the 'community spread' stage.
Despite the temporary closure of government offices, President's Office assured that the state will provide all essential services to the public without interruption.
However, according to the President, it's important that the minimum number of employees are physically present carrying out functions, and to allow those who can work from home to do so.
The essential services that will be provided in this duration include:
- Health care providers, Pharmacies
- Water, Electricity and Sewerage services
- Broadcasting services
- Telecommunication and Internet services
- Banking services
- Cooking gas supplies and Fuel supply services
- Airports and Seaport services
- Maldives Customs Service, Maldives Immigration, Aviation Security Command
- MNDF and Police services
- Fire and rescue services
- Judiciary services and courts
- Diplomatic and consular services
- Social protection services
- Orphanages and shelter services
- Correctional services
- Waste management services
- Meteorological services
President Solih stressed that it is crucial for the public to follow all guidelines and instructions of HPA, noting that it was the best way to safe guard against COVID-19.
Malé area was placed under full lock-down on April 15, following the first confirmed case of 'community spread' in the capital.
Case MAV021, a local female with no recent travel history, presented to the flu clinic in Male after developing symptoms and tested positive for the virus on April 15.
Since then, eleven more patients, from three different clusters, have tested positive for the virus. Authorities are currently conducting contact tracing for these cases and have identified 305 contacts for case MAV021, MAV022, and MAV023, out of which 157 individuals are direct contacts, while the rest are secondary contacts.
On April 17 alone, five people tested positive for coronavirus, marking the highest number of positive cases recorded in the country within 24hrs.
Maldives now has 32 confirmed and 16 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 16 recoveries. A total of 1,053 suspect cases were placed in quarantine while 61 others have been isolated.
The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over two million people and claimed over 154,330 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 574,818 people have recovered.