Quarantine period of returnees from Philippines under review

National Emergency Operations Center, on Monday, announced the quarantine period of the Maldivian nationals who returned from Philippines is under review.

The Maldivian government has repatriated 47 students from Philippines, among them pilot trainees and medical students.

One student, who had been asymptomatic, had tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, following mandatory testing prior to release from quarantine.

National Emergency Operations Center spokesperson Mabrouq Azeez told Sun on Monday that health authorities had made the decision to review the quarantine period of all returnees from Philippines.

He said the decision was made after one of the people who came to Maldives on the Philippines flight tested positive for the disease.

“They have all been tested. All of them, except for one, tested negative. However, since one of the people who came on the flight has tested positive, we have decided to monitor them for 48 hours. A decision will be made after that,” said Mabrouq.

The student who tested positive for the disease on Sunday had been under quarantine at Eriyadu Island Resort upon arrival from Philippines.

20 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Maldives; 15 foreign nationals – including two Italian tourists who had left Maldives before they were identified as virus patients - and five Maldivian nationals.

14 people; 13 foreign nationals and one Maldivian national have since recovered. And the Maldives now has four active cases.

All inbound air passengers to Maldives, with the exception of tourists with resort bookings, are subject to mandatory 14-day quarantine at designated government facilities.

They are released after they are tested for the virus, on the 15th day.

Maldives identified its first COVID-19 case on March 7, and on March 12, declared a state of public health emergency.

It has now suspended the issuance of on-arrival visa, and has also closed government offices, schools and other educational institutions, public parks, and suspended dine-in services in cafes and restaurants in the populous Male’ City region to promote social distancing.