Male’, Maldives – The Ministry of Tourism of Maldives has temporarily suspended the permit of Kandima Maldives resort to operate a tourist facility during the tourism recovery period after the country opened up it’s borders following a lockdown due to Covid-19.
The suspension comes following the death of an employee of the resort due to Covid-19, and a growing cluster of 60 individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the island resort.
This is likely the cause of the suspension, as the Ministry of Tourism, according to local media outlet ‘Mihaaru’, is reported to have stated the reason of suspension as violation of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), with regards to Covid-19.
The death of the 60 year old individual on the 30th of October and the circumstances surrounding his death, as well as the entire cluster of Kandiam has since been investigated by health authorities and forwarded to Maldives Police Service for further investigation. It has also been submitted to the Parliament as an emergency motion by MP of Kudahuvadhoo constituency Ahmed Amir, which is likely to be addressed by the Parliament tomorrow.
According to his family, the deceased was reported to have been sick for about two weeks and the requests to transfer the sick employee to a health care facility -outside of the resort- was disregarded by the resort.
As the matter is being further investigated by authorities, contact tracing and further sample collection in the island is being carried out, with more than 60 individuals already having have tested positive for the virus.
