Government offices to be closed from March 19-26

The Cabinet, on Tuesday afternoon, passed a decision to close down government offices for the one-week period from March 19 to 26 as a measure to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak in Maldives.

The Cabinet also took two key decisions in an effort to cut down government expenditure to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic; cutting the salaries of political appointees by 20 percent, and reducing overall government expenditure by MVR 1 billion.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has instructed government offices to implement measures to ascertain the health and safety of government employees and cut all unnecessary expenditure.

Government offices have been instructed to prepare plans to ensure work at offices which provided public services goes uninterrupted using the minimum number of employees, and protocols to implement in the event an employee exhibits COVID-19 symptoms.

Offices have been instructed against organizing meetings, functions and trainings, and to employee modern technological methods such as tele-conferencing to hold meetings which cannot be avoided.

Offices which use fingerprints for access have been instructed to make alternative arrangements.

Maldives has declared a state of public health emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic, and has implemented several temporary measures including closure of schools, universities, colleges, training institutions, and public parks.

It has also imposed a ban on travel between resorts and residential islands, and suspended the check-in of international tourists at guesthouses and city hotels in Male’ City and its suburbs.

13 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Maldives, all of whom are foreign nationals who were either working or vacationing in resorts or safaris. Of the 13 people, five were from Kuredu Island Resort, two from Sandies Bathala, two from Kuramathi Island Resort, two from Anantara Dhigu, and two from Island Safari-1.