The government, on Saturday, announced updated precautionary measures on inbound and transit flights, confirming restrictions to those travelling from neighbouring Sri Lanka.
The measures are intended to minimize the risk of further importing COVID-19 into the country.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) imposed restrictions on Sri Lanka from 0600 hrs on March 21 onwards.
All passengers and crew with travel history to restricted countries or regions within a 14-day period will be denied entrance into or transit through Maldives.
However, Maldivian nationals and their spouses will be permitted to enter the country, but they too will be subject to 14 days in quarantine.
- Mainland China: Effective February 4.
- Iran: Effective February 26.
- North Gyeongsang Province and South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea: Effective March 3.
- Italy: Effective March 8.
- Bangladesh: Effective from March 10 to March 24.
- Spain: Effective March 15.
- Île-de-France and Grand Est, France: Effective March 15.
- Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg, Germany: Effective March 15.
- Malaysia: Effective March 17.
- United Kingdom: Effective March 19.
- Sri Lanka: Effective March 21.
In addition to the above, the government announced that all inbound passengers, with exception to tourists checking into resorts, will be placed under observation at a designated facility from March 21 onwards.
Persons travelling from countries listed above may enter Maldives if they have spent more than 14 days in transit at a country that is not under a ban.
Nevertheless, health experts and travel consultants strongly advise that people refrain from travelling between countries at this time, including returning to one's home country. A person is still likely to contract the disease during travel, at the country of travel origin or even at the airport, as exposure to other individuals would be higher.
Given the incubation period for the disease, this person can carry the strain into the arriving destination with no knowledge of doing so. Should that happen, a number of vulnerable people could be exposed to the virus and spread it to the region once more.
Therefore, the safest decision is being vigilant about cleanliness, maintaining immunity, following the guidelines published by WHO and HPA, until the spread of COVID-19 is globally contained.
Maldives currently has 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10 active cases. 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 308,400 and claimed over 13,000 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 95,800 have recovered.
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