Malé, Maldives — The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has increased the fine taken for breaching the Covid-19 restrictive measures in Maldives.
The guidelines released by HPA stated that all the citizens of Maldives must obey and respect the guidelines that have been brought to effect by the Director General of Public Health during the state of Public Health Emergency period to control the spread of Covid-19 virus in Maldives.
However, the statement noted that if anyone violates or does not obey the guidelines that were given as a protective measure during the time of Public Health Emergency, then it will be considered as an offense.
This is why, a local citizen will be fined MVR 1,000 for disobeying the guidelines, and MVR 3,500 if they repeat the mistake again. If the citizen again violates a rule, they will be fined MVR 7,500 according to HEOC. From the fourth time onwards, if a citizen continues to violate the guidelines given by HEOC, they will charge the citizen a total of MVR 10,000 each time.
If a foreigner is found violating the rules, HEOC informed that they will be fined MVR 5,000 the first time, MVR 25,000 second time and MVR 50,000 the third time. If the same foreign individual is caught violating the rules from the fourth time onward, they will be charged a total of MVR 100,000 according to HEOC.
In addition to this, if an individual violates certain rules, the Director General of Public Health will get special right to fine that individual by any amount they wish even if it is extremely high.
These certain rules include of the infected individual or suspected infected individual or an isolated individual violating the quarantine/isolation rules given by HPA and entering an island or atoll that is under monitoring status without permission from authorities.
In addition to this, if an individual deliberately hides the information of an infected person or a suspected infected person, they can be fined by an extremely high amount as well.
