Medical professionals repeatedly advice people to remain indoors

Health professionals have once again requested people to remain indoors as a precautionary safety measure against the Covid-19 virus in the Maldives.

In a news conference held today to share the latest updates of the situation, Government assembled emergency response team’s medical officer Dr. Nazla Rafeeg said that Maldivians have been calling for a lockdown for quite some time now, but have failed to follow the instructions of the authorities to stay at home.

“The number of vehicles last night and today, on the roads of Male’ city were high. It was very congested. There were calls to go into a state of lockdown, but here we are on the roads. The words and the actions do not match at all.” Said the doctor.

She added that this may be due to the fact that some time has passed since a positive case of the virus was identified in the country. Dr. Nazla stated that this was a misconception and that everyone should be prepared for such a case at any time.

Precautionary measures in the country were being strengthened in order to prepare for this.

“Based on the danger and the spread of the virus all over the world, we cannot assume that we are done with this and breathe a sigh of relief.” Said Dr. Nazla.

She added that two important steps were there to control the virus, based on the current studies and experiences of countries. One was to identify the positive cases, conduct contact tracing and isolate them. However, this was not enough to control the disease. Dr. Nazla went to say that a person can infect another before exhibiting symptoms of the virus. She said that a person may unknowingly infect many others by socializing in such a situation.

Currently, Maldives has 10 cases of the virus. In total, 13 foreigners were tested positive in the country. Three people have made full recoveries after being treated.

The Maldives has implemented stringent measures that include the closure of schools, colleges, and universities as well as restaurants and cafés. Additional measures include stopping collective prayers in mosques and discouraging public gatherings in major population centers.