Another resort staff arrested over violating travel restrictions

Police arrested another resort employee on Saturday night over breaking travel restrictions implemented in Maldives over the COVID-19 outbreak.

Maldives Police Service stated that a 32-year-old local man was arrested over illegally entering the resort he was employed at, which is located in Haa Alif Atoll.

The police did not disclose further information on the employee or resort but stated that they are investigating the issue.

This is the third such case to surface after the Health Protection Agency (HPA)’s announcement on March 15, banning all travel between resorts and inhabited islands for a 14-day period in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ban was implemented under the state of public health emergency declared in Maldives on March 12, on the order of Director General of Public Health Maimoona Aboobakuru.

Police arrested two employees of a resort in capital Kaafu Atoll on Friday night, over illegally fleeing the resort to Fuvahmulah City. Another resort employee, from South Palm Resort in Addu Atoll, was arrested earlier this month, when he attempted to flee the resort and swim to the island of Hulhumeedhoo.

Maldives, as well as many other countries, has since moved to quarantine areas with suspected cases, and isolate suspected and confirmed cases alike. However, despite significant public pressure to do so, and although all movement from resorts to islands is now restricted, the country is yet to issue a lockdown blocking all incoming travel from other countries.

As such, resort employees currently face the highest risk of exposure to the virus.

Maldives currently has 13 confirmed and 10 active cases of COVID-19. The country recorded its first two recoveries on Friday, and the third this Saturday.

No Maldivians have tested positive for the virus as of yet. So far, only tourists and resort employees have confirmed infections with no local transmissions.

The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected more than 308,200 and claimed over 13,000 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 95,800 have recovered.