The Health Protection Agency (HPA) of Maldives on Saturday has released a circular ordering temporary close down on local universities, colleges and other educational faculties and centers.
The temporary close down order on various educational institutions come under the vested authority to Director General of Public Health in accordance to the Public Health Act in light of Maldives government announcing a state of public health emergency.
All educational institutions including universities, colleges and other educational venues are expected to remain temporarily closed down for a duration of two weeks starting from Saturday, 14 March 2020.
Maldives government announced a state of public health emergency after the island nation's health authorities confirmed presence of COVID-19 in the country.
As of Saturday, authorities report a total of 10 confirmed cases of the viral pandemic.
Meanwhile, Maldives will be under the state of public health emergency for a duration of 30 days.
Locally operated resorts have been issued an order to prohibit transfer in and out of the luxury slips, while HPA will monitoring all local resorts for the possible presence of the virus.
The current toll of COVID-19 cases in Maldives include 5 positive cases from Kuredu Island Resort, 2 from Sandies Bathala Resort, 2 from Kuramathi Island Resort and 1 case from Anantara Dhigu.
All confirmed cases of the virus were found present from expatriates or tourists while there have been no confirmed cases found from any locals.
