HPA indicates virus measures could be eased for Ramadan

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has indicated that easements may be provided to strict COVID-19 measures implemented in the capital and the rest of the Maldives during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan. 

The Director-General of Public Health Maimoona Aboobakuru and several senior HPA officials were summoned to the Parliament’s Economic Committee yesterday as the Committee inquired about the damages caused on cafes and restaurant businesses in the capital due to the state of public health emergency and COVID-19 measures. 

At the meeting, the DG maintained that a state of public health emergency was still very much required in the nation and that the HPA was not discriminating between café, restaurant businesses, and other types of businesses. She was responding to criticism and questions posed by Hoarafushi MP Ahmed Saleem during yesterday’s parliament sitting. 

The state of public health emergency in the Maldives had been extended almost 12 times. It was first announced on March 12, just a few days after the Maldives identified the first case of COVID-19 from a tourist resort. 

MPs questioned DG Maimoona and senior officials of the HPA whether the state of public health emergency was still required. 

DG Maimoona responded by saying that the world was still dealing with the pandemic and that emergency measures to be undertaken to address the virus could only be done so if the state of emergency was declared. 

“I accept that the state of public health emergency under the Public Health Act is very much required and important to allow for us to perform our duties and tasks. If not, we may face difficulties in undertaking measures such as movement restriction,” said the Director-General.

The DG then went on to state that the strict COVID-19 measures could be repealed if the vaccine coverage was strengthened. She also said that it was her intention to ease some of the measures for the upcoming month of Ramadan. She said that policies for the easements would be made when the time came. 

DG Maimoona also advised lawmakers on the committee on the importance of vaccinations, which if increased, could mean that the easements could be introduced quicker. More than 220,000 people in the Maldives have received vaccines for COVID-19.