Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Tuesday, placed the Thoddoo, Ali Alif Atoll under monitoring status and banned travel to and from the island.
According to HPA, the restrictions were implemented after an individual that returned to Male’ from the island tested positive for COVID19.
Hence, the agency stated, the island would remain under monitoring status until contact tracing was completed.
In addition to Thoddoo, similar restrictions were placed on the island of Kolhufushi in Meemu Atoll, after the infected was detected in nine people.
The Kolhufushi cluster was also detected after an individual who arrived at the capital city from the island was confirmed, last week, to be positive for the virus.
HPA recently eased several safety measures imposed to control the spread of COVID-19. These leniencies include the cancellation of the city-wide curfew over the greater Male’ region, the reduction of quarantine periods to 10 days as well as cancelling mandatory quarantine for locals returning to Maldives and for locals travelling to resorts.
However, the agency has now tightened restrictions again, amid 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”.
At present, Maldives records over 15, 000 total confirmed cases, of which 1, 280 are those in active status, with 13, 916 recoveries and 51 deaths.
On March 12, 2020, WHO classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. To date, the new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 1 billion people and claimed over 2.1 million lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 72.5 million people have recovered.
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