Malé, Maldives – Presidents Office has announced that government employees would need to work from home from May 15 to 22, 2021.
Presidents Office also announced that all government offices in the Greater Malé Region (Malé, Hulhumalé, Villingili, Thilafushi and Gulhifalhu) are to remain closed as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Presidents Office also gave the assurance that despite the temporary closure of offices and directive for employees to work from home as necessary, all essential services would continue without interruption by allowing the required number of employees to attend their respective offices.
It was also revealed that the Minister or head of an office or institution should authorise any exemptions and that government offices would provide other public services online.
This comes while Health Protection Agency (HPA) had announced stricter restrictions in the area including extension of the curfew in Malé City being imposed from 16:00 till 04:00 starting from yesterday onward.
While the curfew will be imposed for a week, eateries and restaurants have been ordered to only provide delivery service with police approval till 00:00 each night and also prayer gatherings have been banned within this week.
HPA also warned that businesses which do not abide by the regulations will be closed for 24 hours. HPA also announced that from May 13, 2021 onward, south Asian tourists would not be allowed in the island nation amid the increasing Covid-19 case.
The stricter restrictions comes while Maldives recorded daily Covid-19 cases above 1,000 for past two days with 1,572cases recorded yesterday.
In the statistics released by HPA, it was detailed that out of the 1,572 cases, 1,315 were from the Malé area, while 242 cases were recorded from inhabited islands. The figures also included 15 cases from operational resorts which brought up the total active cases in the country to 12,873.
With this, the total number of Covid-19 cases recorded in the country has reached 40,092 out of which 27,123 patients have made full recoveries, as of 18:00 of May 12, 2021.
