Government institutes will open from June 14 to 18: President Solih

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, on Thursday, issued permits for government institutions and ministries to operate from June 14 to 18, in order to complete essential tasks.

According to the decree, government offices will not be open to the public despite being cleared to operate from 0900 hrs and 1300 hrs.

The president's decree mandates offices and institutions to notify the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and work in compliance with its specific instructions.

While state institutions are only permitted to complete urgent and essential tasks during this period, ministers and heads of institutions are responsible for deciding specific details on work to be carried out.

The president urged all offices to operate with the least amount of employees and called for continued work-from-home policies and online provision of services in all possible circumstances.

The decree stated that employees may continue to work as directed by their respective ministers or institution heads if additional time is required to complete certain tasks.

Initially implemented on April 15, lockdown measures in the capital city of Male' disrupted the work of several ministerial and institutional offices located in the region. Following several extensions, President Solih announced that lockdown measures would be gradually eased following May 28.

As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Maldives' capital Malé recorded a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in the first weeks following the first confirmed local transmission on April 15. However, the number of recoveries recorded daily are now consistently higher than newly confirmed cases.

Maldives currently records a total of 1,962 cases, out of which 831 are active cases of COVID-19. The country records 1,121 recoveries and eight deaths.

WHO has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 7.4 million people and claimed over 419,800 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, 3.8 million people have recovered.