Nasheed: Do your own contact tracing

Parliament Speaker, President Mohamed Nasheed, on Monday, urged everyone to conduct their own contact tracing to assist health authorities in their battle to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Maldives.

Speaking during the sitting on Monday, which was the first virtual parliamentary sitting in Maldivian history, Nasheed said that he was satisfied with the measures imposed by the government against the new coronavirus, and that the success in preventing an outbreak within local communities was the result of effective contact tracing.

“Therefore, I believe, the best way to assist our public healthcare professionals at this time is to conduct our own contact tracing ourselves,” said Nasheed.

Nasheed said that he had discussed the subject with public healthcare professionals, and that there was evidence that contact tracing had been effective in bringing down the number of infections during flu outbreaks.

Noting that COVID-19 is transmissible through human-to-human contact, Nasheed urged everyone to note down the people they meet and the places they visit.

It is unwise to give into fear and hide it if you come into contact with a person who showed flu-like symptoms, he said.

Nasheed urged the Maldivian people to act with wisdom and precaution to prevent the nation falling into a catastrophe.

“Now, it is unwise to hesitate to reveal it if you may have been in some undesirable places during some undesirable hours. You need to confess. You need to confess. If not, the penalty will befall on the entire Maldivian population,” he said.

Nasheed said that he was fully aware of how difficult the current situation was, but that he had no doubt Maldives would overcome the current situation through collective effort.