The government has temporarily ceased issuing permits for essential service providers.
The Health authorities imposed a lockdown on the capital Male’ on April 15 after the first case of local transmission of COVID-19 was identified in Male'. The Economic Ministry has been issuing special permits for local businesses for the delivery services and shopping through Maldives Police Services since then.
Economic Ministry on Friday said the issuance of permits will be halted for the time being. However, permits required for parties seeking to clear cargo will continue to be issued, said the ministry.
Following the health experts’ warnings that an upsurge in COVID-19 infections will be experienced over the next few days, the government has been placing strict measures to prevent the situation from getting worse. In that respect, shopping permits that were previously issued to each household twice a week will now be limited to once per week.
A total of 1031 people have contracted COVID-19 in the Maldives thus far. The island nation has recorded four COVID-19 related fatalities thus far.
Customers at pay counters of a shop
