Malé, Maldives – President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has stated today that there are plans to ease the measures after an additional week of lockdown and further assessment.
In a press conference held earlier today, President Solih said that last May was the worst month of the Covid-19 pandemic till now, and that while strict restrictions brought down infection rates, these restrictions should continue.
He added that as advised by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), the current restrictions will not be lifted for another week.
President Solih also disclosed that while it was previously agreed that Astrazeneca Singapore Pte Ltd would provide 500,000 doses of their Covid-19 vaccine this month, a meeting with the company today has revealed that the doses will be delivered in July.
The procurement of the Russian Sputnik vaccine is at the signing stage according to the President, who added that a currently unspecified type and amount of covid-19 vaccine from the U.S is expected to be received sometime this month.
Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem, who joined today’s press conference alongside Pediatric Infections Expert and Member of the Technical Advisory Team Dr. Nazla Musthafa and the President, stated that any restrictions will be lifted at a slow place after assessing the situation then.
He reiterated the President’s previous statement in todays press, agreeing that an abrupt end to all restrictive measures would see a repeat of the surge of cases caused by this in April, when many restrictions were lifted due to the local council elections.
Speaking at the Covid-19 press conference, Dr. Nazla noted that the statistics showed increasing number of Covid-19 cases in April, which later went to its peak by the end of May and is now showing a decline in the number of cases.
While the national infection rate was in the high 30s during May, Dr. Nazla stated that with hard work and high compliance, they are now seeing a decline in this rate within the country, with the number of serious cases and hospital admittance also seeing a sharp decrease.
While the country has recorded lower number of cases in the past couple of days, the total number of Covid-19 cases recorded in the country has reached 68,502 out of which 49,844 patients have made full recoveries, as of 18:00 of June 7, 2021.
