The Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Sunday, publicized guidelines for holding public meetings, ceremonies and celebrations with consideration to safety measures.
If gatherings are being organised in islands, either HPA or the Maldives Police Service must be notified.
Additionally all participants at welcome ceremonies must wear facemasks, maintain social distancing, practice hand sanitation. HPA urged individuals to refrain from such activities if they are experiencing any COVID-like symptoms.
The agency's instructions also included organising any trips in advance and notifying island councils of such plans. Travellers are also encouraged to arrange accommodation separately from island residents.
As a safety precaution, the provision of food and beverages at meetings and rallies is prohibited. Weddings must have separate serving arrangements rather than a buffet setting.
HPA's announcement was made at a time when the Elections Commission (EC) is preparing to host the delayed Local Council Elections on March 6, 2021.
Over 980 councillors were to be elected for the island, atoll and city councils on April 4, 2020. Initial fears over the COVID-19 pandemic forced authorities to postpone the election to April 18, 2020. However, the persistence of the health crisis soon prompted an indefinite delay.
The opposition coalition, consisting of the People's Progressive Party (PPM) and the People's National Congress (PNC), has repeatedly voiced concerns that safety guidelines were being unequally applied to prevent them from holding any political activities.
On November 29, the opposition confirmed its intention to lodge a case at court over the differentiation between parties of the ruling coalition and opposition coalition in receiving campaigning opportunities for the upcoming local council elections.
PPM and PNC also lodged formal complaints at the Elections Commission earlier in November.
Maldives currently records a total of 13,444 virus cases of which 553 are active cases, in addition to 12,836 recoveries and 48 deaths.
During August, authorities tightened the safety measures implemented in the Greater Male' region, following an alarming upsurge of COVID-19 cases after the state initiated efforts to steer the country towards a 'new normal' with the phased easing of lockdown restrictions.
After a long period of recording over 100 daily cases, the numbers fell to two-digits during the most part of September. Throughout October the numbers had slipped further down below 50, with a few spikes on rare occasions, including the recent spikes as a result of four new virus clusters.
Within this same period, the number of recoveries saw a significant increase, bringing the number of recovered cases to over 94 percent.
Despite the sustained decrease in virus cases, HPA has renewed calls for citizens to adhere to protective measures to contain the spread of the virus, cautioning against a public sentiment that the outbreak has been “controlled”.
On March 12, WHO classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. To date, the new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 76.7 million people and claimed over 1.6 million lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 53.8 million people have recovered.
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