Police apprehend all 5 who fled from Herathera quarantine facility

Maldives Police Service, on Thursday, announced that it had located and apprehended the remainder of the escapees from the Herathera quarantine facility in Addu.

Total five people had escaped from the quarantine facility on Wednesday; three of whom were found and apprehended later that night.

The police announced the remaining two were found and apprehended at dawn on Thursday.

Herathere Island, which houses Canareef Resort Maldives, was repurposed as a quarantine facility to quarantine residents of Fuvahmulah city and Addu city who had been stranded in the capital Male’ City due to the lockdown on the Greater Male’ Region.

The lockdown on the capital – the new epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Maldives – had left hundreds stranded in the city.

The government has now established a protocol to facilitate their return to their home islands, which stipulates that those who wish to return to their home island must undergo 14-day quarantine at a designated facility.

The Director General of Public Health is empowered to order the quarantine of people during a state of public health emergency. And the Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem has warned his office will press criminal charges against those found to violate quarantine orders.