Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Tuesday, extended its restriction on guesthouses and city hotels indefinitely, which bars check-ins from any foreigners, amidst the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency first halted the arrival of tourists to guesthouses and city hotels for a 14-day period beginning March 17, under the state of public health emergency that was declared in the country on March 12.
Right before the 14-day mark, Director General of HPA Maimoona Aboobakuru announced that no tourist check-ins would be allowed to take place at either guesthouses or city hotels, until further notice. However, tourists that have already checked-in will be allowed to stay at their lodgings until their initial booking period is complete.
To contain the spread of COVID-19 in the community, HPA has also prohibited travel from liveaboards and resorts to any inhabited islands and vice versa. In addition, travelling from one resort to another is also banned.
Moreover, countries with serious COVID-19 outbreaks have also been placed under a travel ban, in addition to closing down schools and government institutions temporarily.
The country now records 18 confirmed and five active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 13 recoveries. While there are two confirmed cases of Maldivians, no local to local transmissions are recorded.
The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over 803,707 people and claimed over 39,070 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 172,434 people have recovered.
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