Criminal Court halts trials for disinfection

The Criminal Court cancelled trials scheduled for June 21 and 22 to disinfect its premises after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.

In a notice released early Sunday, the court assured that direct contacts of the staff who tested positive have been identified via contact tracing, and all individuals that need monitoring are currently in quarantine as per the Health Protection Agency (HPA)'s directive.

Although the Criminal Court is closed for disinfection, it stated that judges and other staff will continue to work virtually on remand hearings and issuing court orders for investigative institutions.

The notice read that the court had made arrangements in advance to ensure that the majority of staff would not have to be placed under quarantine should a positive case be detected. Accordingly, since capital Male' entered the second phase of easing lockdown restrictions on June 15, judges and other employees are attending work in two sessions, with staff from only two of the court's 10 judicial sections at work in each session.

The court added that only the minimum number of employees are physically present on the premises for work as required, and that all are instructed to abide by the social distancing and other safety measures specified by the HPA.

Recently, the premises of the Maldivian parliament were also disinfected after an administrative staff tested positive for COVID-19.

Maldives presently records a total of 2,187 confirmed cases, out of which 389 are active cases of COVID-19. The country records 1,788 recoveries and eight fatalities so far.

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 have continued to rise, with roughly 82 percent of patients now recovered.

WHO has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 8.9 million people and claimed over 467,000 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, 4.7 million people have recovered.