Kooddoo has temporarily suspended the sale of ice and purchase of fish on the island due to the worsening COVID-19 situation in the fishing island.
Kooddoo Fisheries, which operates MIFCO's fish factory on the island, said a large number of employees at the factory as well as several crewmen on fishing boats tested positive for COVID-19 over the past days. As the infected employees have to be isolated, there are challenges to purchasing and weigh fish, as well as distributing ice to local fish boats. However, fish weighing operations will take place at the outer jetty of Kooddoo from Maha Kalaminja boat as well as other boats that do the work in Huvadhu atoll.
90 positive cases of COVId-19 have been identified from the Kooddoo Fish Factory thus far. While 25 people have recovered from the illness, 65 cases are active at this time.
Fishermen in the north depend heavily on the fishing complex in Kooddoo for fish weighing and ice collection. The island, which also has a regional airport as well as a resort, has been under the Health Protection Agency (HPA)'s monitoring status for over two months. The restrictions have caused challenges in carrying out some operations of MIFCO.
