Gender: 42 rescued from Male’ streets and moved to a temporary shelter

Gender Ministry, on Thursday, announced that 42 people left stranded in the streets of Male’ following the lockdown on the city have been moved to a temporary shelter.

Gender Ministry tweeted this morning that at the request of Maldives Police Service, it coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Islamic Affairs to provide food and shelter to people picked up from the streets of Male’ on Wednesday night.

Total 42 people were rescued and are currently in a temporary shelter.

Maldives Police Service and volunteers from the Maldivian Red Crescent had worked in the frontlines to distribute the food and move the people to the shelter.

Gender Ministry said it was coordinating with the Male’ City Council to assess their condition and arrange better accommodation for them.

The people rescued from the streets include both locals and migrant workers.

Maldives Police Service, in a statement, said it had identified and distribted food to 24 local homeless people, while the Gender Ministry had identified and rescued homeless migrant workers.

Male’ identified its first COVID-19 case on Wednesday morning. The patient has no recent travel history overseas nor had any contact with any other positive cases. Two others who had contact with the patient have also tested positive, including a toddler – a child of the first patient.

Male’ and its suburbs – Hulhumale’ and Vilimale’ – are currently under a 24-hour lockdown as authorities work on identifying the source of the outbreak and isolate all those who may have been exposed to the disease.

The emergency alert status in Male’ has been upped to ‘red alert’ with the emergence of the cases – the first outbreak of COVID-19 in a residential island.