Health Protection Agency HPA says it will report individuals who share images of confirmed covid-19 cases to Maldives Police Services.
Addressing the issue at tonight’s briefing, HPA’s Medical Officer Dr. Fathimath Nazla Rafeeq said its has come to the attention of authorities that images of Covid-19 patients are being circulated on social media. She said leaking such personal information is a criminal offense.
Dr. Nazla cited that the Public Health Protection Act vested the power to release such information only to the Director General of Public Health. She said if any other person released such information, authorities would report the individual to the police.
She said some are sharing images of positive cases or images based on speculations through social media platforms and often times wrong person’s image is released.
She advised against such violations of privacy of any individual.
The first case of Covid-19 in Male’ Area was reported on the 15th of this month. Since then the number of cases have skyrocketed to 31 in 5 days in Male’ area alone. HPA reported the first case of Covid-19 in the atolls earlier today, after a Maldivian national from Haa Alif Uligam tested positive for the virus.
