President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih held virtual meetings with the COVID-19 policy task force on Wednesday night following the detection of the first case of local transmission of the virus in capital Male'.
The meetings were previously held daily at the presidential residence, Mulee-aage. However, the meetings will now take place virtually.
The government of Maldives has taken stringent measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. During the meeting, the task force members shared with the president and the ministers, the new measures to be taken, as well as extensive deliberation was held on various measures.
The first case of local transmission does not have any recent travel history, and it is unknown how she contracted the virus. However, work is still ongoing to trace the origin of the infection and other people who may have been infected by the patient.
On late Wednesday, the patient’s one year old child tested positive for the virus. Both are currently placed in isolation facilities. Samples were taken from 10 other people from the patient's residence, out of which one more tested positive during the early hours of Thursday.
Two houses in Male’ have been placed under lockdown, including the residence of the patient. A home in the southernmost city, Addu and Male’ atoll Kaashidhoo island have also been placed in lockdown for contact tracing.
Considering that this is a community spread of the disease in the Male’ region, the alert level in Male city has been changed to ‘red’. Furthermore, the government has imposed further stringent measures, and a 24-hour lockdown has been placed in the Male' area.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih addressed the nation on Wednesday and urged the citizens to stay home and comply with the instructions given by authorities. In his emotional address, the president pleaded the citizens to be patient, compassionate, empathetic, to be brave, and to lend helping hands to others at this crucial time.
The virual meeting presient Ihahom Mohamed Solih had wuth task force members
