Malé, Maldives – Health Protection Agency (HPA) has banned vehicle operation on the roads of Malé between 18:00 and 06:00 effective from today February 12 onwards.
HPA announced that this vehicle ban is being imposed as a protective measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, HPA revealed certain groups of people that are an exception to this rule. This includes;
- Police and MNDF officers
- Health workers and their vehicles
- Ambulance
- Those having HPA pass
- Those having medical emergencies
HPA also added that apart from the above mentioned categories, other exceptions can be made under special permissions from the Agency. HPA stressed the public to adhere to these guidelines to minimize the spread of the virus as much as possible.
Tighter restrictions are following the increased number of cases in Malé area. Yesterday alone, 162 of the confirmed 186 cases were recorded from the greater Malé area.
Over the past week, there has been a surge in the number of daily confirmed Covid-19 cases in Maldives. Spokesperson of Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC), Dr. Nazla Rafeeg revealed that this shows that Maldives is currently facing the third wave of Covid-19.
Along with the surge in the number of daily confirmed Covid-19 cases, HEOC revealed that the new Covid-19 variant has also been found in the country.
Experts say that the new variant is the cause for the sudden escalation of cases in the Malé city and the same variant has been confirmed in the atolls as well. With this, the HEOC has has imposed several restrictions in the country to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus and the new Covid-19 variant.
