A guideline has been developed to identify positive cases of COVID-19 from the atolls.
The guidelines issued Monday night by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) outlined the protocol to be followed by regional and atoll hospitals, and island health centres if a patient presents with symptoms of a cold or flu.
The guideline instructed island councils to quarantine any person who traveled to the island over the past 14 days from capital Male', resorts, or any island from which a person has tested positive for the virus, if any symptoms of a flu are exhibited. The person must remain in quarantine until the results of their COVID-19 tests come back, said HPA.
According to HPA, all persons who develop symptoms of COVID-19 must be quarantined at designated facilities on the island or in their homes unless their condition requires the person to be hospitalized. If any person tests positive, the person must be isolated at a designated location until he is transferred to an isolation facility. The residence of the positive patient must be kept on monitoring status until contact tracing is complete.
Random testing will also be carried out in the islands, in addition to carrying out training programs. In this regard, random samples will be taken as follows:
1 from every 10 expatriates on the island
Persons who meet a large number of people
1 from every 10 employees working in local shops
1 from every 10 employees working on ferries
1 from every 10 employees working at hotels and restaurants
1% of healthcare officials working on the island
HPA has requested island councils to compile a registry of all expatriates on the islands, and to identify those with symptoms of flu, and to report the numbers to HPA if a large number of people exhibit symptoms.
