Economic Ministry has announced the shopping hours for those who need to shop for essential items as 0900 to 0000 hours.
The capital Male’ region has been placed in lockdown for 14 days with the detection of people infected with the COVID-19. However, an individual per household can leave the home to purchase essential items with a special permit.
Economic Ministry said effective from Wednesday, those who need to be out for essential shopping can step outside with the permission from the police. The shops will provide services between 0900 to 0000 hours. Shops are urged to close the shops for 15 minutes at each prayer time.
In the announcement, the ministry further detailed the procedures to be followed when purchasing items from the shops.
Cautionary measures to be followed when purchasing items from shops:
• Prefer online shopping
• If the shop accepts orders via phone calls, call in ahead and order prior to going for the collection
• Even if the permit is granted, do not step out unless it is necessary to purchase essential items
• If symptoms of a communicable disease are present, do not to go out for shopping
• Do not take children to the shops at any cost
• Elderly people and people with chronic illness must not be out unless absolutely necessary
• Before going to the shop, make a shopping list and write the permit number at the right-hand corner of the list
• Be cautious to keep physical distancing
• Once the business hours over, the floors of the shop and other surfaces must be disinfected
Cautionary measures to follow after shopping
• Once done with the shopping, head home directly without touching any surface on the way, and keeping a physical distance with others
• Throw away the shopping bag after removing the items
• Wash hands with soap
• Refridgerate the items after cleaning the surface of the purchased items
Delivery services from local shops have been overwhelmed with backlog orders due to the multitude of orders received during lockdown. To address the issues, the police have divided Male’ into 26 zones. The issued permit can be used only within the residential area of the permit holder, and the permit cannot be used for any other purpose.
