The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has stated that a local who arrived in the Maldives from the United Kingdom has tested positive for COVID-19. It is unknown whether the new case is linked to the new strain of COVID-19 detected in the UK.
According to HPA, the person is linked to a recent outbreak related to a wedding recently held in capital Male’. However, the person arrived in the Maldives after the wedding, and was not required to quarantine himself as the new guidelines requiring local arrivals from UK to quarantine themselves had not been in effect at the time. He was tested for the virus after he developed symptoms of the disease, said HPA.
HPA updated guidelines such that locals arriving from UK are required to quarantine themselves earlier on Saturday. The measure was taken after a new, more transmissable strain of the COVID-19 virus began circulating in the UK.
According to the new guidelines announced by HPA, locals and work visa holders who were in the UK 14 days prior to their arrival in the Maldives, and locals who made a transit stop at the UK lasting over 12 hours wil be required to undergo a 10-day home quarantine upon arrival in the Maldives. They will also be required to undergo PCR testing for COVID-19 within five to ten days of arrival in the Maldives.
Travellers from UK are now required to present a negative PCR test taken no more than 96 hours prior to traveling to the Maldives.
