Maldives Police Service (MPS) stated on Saturday that a single resident belonging to a household in Malé city may apply for a permit once every three days to go out for "essential purposes".
This permit is issued amidst the ongoing lockdown imposed by the Maldivian government to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the capital.
Speaking at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) press conference held online, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abdulla Fairoosh revealed that effective Sunday, police will begin to issue permits to one individual from each household, once every three days, to go out for an hour and procure essential household supplies such as groceries and medicines within their neighbourhoods.
To apply for the one-hour permit, residents are required to submit an application form via a police web portal for approval. Upon approval of the request, individuals will receive a QR code on their phone, through which the police can track the movements of the individual for the approved duration of the time.
According to the Assistant Commissioner, the decision was made to control the number of people out on the streets during the time of the lockdown, and because of the overwhelming requests from the public for assistance in obtaining essential supplies.
He further added that the introduction of permits would allow the police to monitor resident movements through a controlled system.
“With such arrangements in place, we hope to see a decrease in the number of people defying lockdown and social distancing orders, and reduce the burden on stores”, the Assistant Commissioner added.
With Malé city put on lockdown on April 15 after its first recorded case of COVID-19, MPS had put in place arrangements to issue online permits to facilitate individuals to go out on essential needs. Individuals are requested to use the same web portal to apply for the new permit at: www.police.gov.mv/permit
Fairoosh went on to note that Malé City was divided into 26 zones, having taken into account the total resident population and the distribution of stores across the island, so that residents will have convenient access to essential supplies within their zones.
In response to the first confirmed case of community transmission of COVID-19 in the capital on April 15, Malé City, along with the greater Malé region, was placed under a lockdown for a 24-hour period.
Health Protection Agency's (HPA) on Friday extended the lockdown on greater Male region for a period of 14 days after new cases surfaced in the capital.
Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced a 15th case of COVID-19 in capital city Male', in the early hours of Sunday.
Maldives now has 35 confirmed and 19 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 16 recoveries. A total of 1,081 suspect cases were placed in quarantine while 61 others have been isolated.
The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over 2.3 million people and claimed over 159,000 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 591,200 people have recovered
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