Minister of Health, Ahmed Naseem has extended the duration of the State of Public Health Emergency declared in the Maldives. This is the 13th extension of the State of Public Health Emergency since it was first declared on March 12, 2020.
The emergency state was invoked by former Health Minister Abdulla Ameen on March 12 last year for a period of 30 days by the discretionary powers vested in the minister by Section 33 of the 7/2012 Public Health Act. The measure was taken after the World Health Organization (WHO) classified the current COVID-19 outbreak as a global 'pandemic'.
Since then, the state of public health emergency has been extended several times. While the most recent extension of the emergency state expired on April 4th, the Health Ministry announced that the public health emergency state will be maintained until May 12th as COVID-19 still remains a threat to the Maldives. Any special measures that the situation calls for will be taken accordingly.
Maldives has recorded 24,783 confirmed cases of COVID-19 thus far, and 67 COVID-19 deaths. The number of positive cases has been increasing rapidly over the past few weeks, and authorities tightened restrictions. The number of active cases is 3,061.
