Addu city, Maldives – Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) has confirmed that random sampling would start in Addu City staring from tomorrow, 19 January 2021.
While HEOC has confirmed that random sampling is to take place tomorrow, they have also noted that they would focus on those working at jobs with high community contact including ferry workers and shopkeepers. These samples are being taken as a precautionary measure to ensure that there is no spread of Covid-19 in Addu City.
This is a part of numerous measures put in place by Addu Council to ensure the safety of the people. In addition to the planned random sampling, the Council recently announced that anyone who has travelled to Addu from an island under monitoring after the 1st of this month are to report their situation to the respective Social Support Desks of their islands without any further delay. They also specified certain islands in the statement, however some of those islands are no longer under monitoring.
While there has been a small spike in the number of people testing positive daily, Maldives hopes to recover from the pandemic soon, with preparations in place for the vaccines expected to be available within this quarter.
Local media “RaajeMv” had reported that that the relevant authorities were working on bringing the vaccine to the country within this month and gave the assurance that Maldives will get the Covid-19 vaccine on the coming January 26th and that as planned, the vaccine will first be given to the frontline workers in the country.
According to the spokesperson of Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) and the leader of the Covid task force in Maldives, Dr. Nazla Rafeeg, 17 percent of the Covid-19 vaccine the country will receive through COVAX is planned to inoculate the citizens above the age of 50 or the Covid-19 patients who are at high risk. The remaining 3 percent of the Covid-19 vaccines will be given to the people who are indirectly and directly treating the infected patients and to those who are treating the patients at high risk.
