Maldives Police Service, on Friday, limited grocery permits issued for households in the capital city of Male’ to one per week in order to control a projected surge in COVID-19 cases.
According to the police, this restriction is part of the new control measures to be implemented for two weeks, in the wider effort to contain a possible surge of COVID-19 in the Maldives.
Following the implementation of a city-wide lockdown in response to the first confirmed instance of community spread, the police began issuing permits to one member per household, allowing them to leave their home for one hour, once every three days, to shop for groceries and fulfil other essential needs.
Starting from today, all grocery permits issued by police would be reduced to once a week. If you’re already registered, you’ll get a new text message revealing the new time. You don’t need to get registered again. This is done to control a possible surge of #COVID19Maldives
— Maldives Police (@PoliceMv) May 14, 2020
Individuals that leave their houses without clearance during the lockdown period will be fined MVR 1,000 while those that repeatedly violate regulations will be taken into custody.
Additional measures introduced to control the possible surge predicted by medical experts include restricting public access to Sinamale Bridge from 0100 – 0900 hrs for a period of 14 days, effective from May 15.
Amid the ongoing state of public health emergency declared on March 12, the administration initially imposed the lockdown across the Greater Male’ Region on April 15, after a Maldivian national living in the capital tested positive for COVID-19.
The lockdown has since been extended multiple times, with the latest development placing its deadline on May 28.
Maldives now records a total of 1,020 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 924 active cases, four fatalities and a total of 40 recoveries. Capital city Malé, one of the most densely populated places in the world, has recorded a significant increase in COVID-19 cases the first case was recorded.
On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. At present, the new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 4.5 million people and claimed over 304,200 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, 1.7 million people have recovered.
Full details are available at the link below:
Source URL: Google News
