The government has once again extended the State of Public Health Emergency for an additional month amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the 12th time the government has extended the State of Public Health Emergency in the country which was initially declared back in March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
In a declaration issued by the Health Ministry, the government extended the State of Public Health Emergency period till 4th April 2021.
Health Minister Ahmed Naseem signed the declaration today.
The extension was ordered by the powers vested to the Health Minister under Section 33 of the Public Health Protection Act.
The declaration said that the state of public health emergency was extended to further quell the spread of the virus and safeguard the health of the general public.
It also said that the Director-General of Public Health had also advised the Minister to extend the public health emergency period given the current situation of the pandemic in the Maldives.
The extension comes as the pandemic took a turn for the worst in the Maldives as the number of COVID-19 cases rose dramatically in the first two months of the year.
This in turn has prompted the Health Protection Agency to take further restrictive measures to curb the spread of the pandemic. This includes a vehicular ban in the Greater Male' Region from 08:30 pm to 04:30 am as well as increasing the curfew hours currently in place in the Greater Male' region.
