Male' City Mayor Shifa Mohamed, on Thursday, announced that 95 retail outlets were given permission to deliver food to households amid the city-wide lockdown implemented following the first local COVID-19 transmission.
After patient MAV021 tested positive for the virus, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) issued a Red alert for Male' City and placed the greater Male' region under lockdown for 24 hours, beginning 1530 hrs on Wednesday afternoon. The measure was extended for an additional 24 hours on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference held by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), the mayor stated that the Male' City Council had decided that outlets and shops which submitted applications online would be allowed to deliver food.
Revealing that an additional 180 outlets had requested clearance to carry out deliveries, she revealed that these permits would be issued from the police tow yard before 2000 hrs on Thursday.
Furthermore, the Male' Mayor urged all citizens to to arrange their affairs as efficiently as possible amid the lockdown.
Maldives now has 23 confirmed and seven active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 16 recoveries.
The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over two million people and claimed over 135,228 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 516,675 people have recovered.