Violation of Kulhudhuffushi curfew will be met with fines of up to MVR 5,000

Kulhudhuffushi City Council, on Tuesday, announced that violation of its stay home order will be met with fines within the range of MVR 500 to MVR 5,000.

The COVID-19 taskforce in Kulhudhuffushi had imposed a 72-hour lockdown on the city at noon on Tuesday, after a boat carrying a person who later tested positive for COVID-19 was found to have made a stop at the city on its route, and the person was found to have disembarked and had contact with a number of the city’s residents.

The city council has announced that venturing out of homes without permission while the lockdown is in effect will be met with legal action.

The council said it had the authority to treat the violation of the stay home order as an act of violation of the orders of the council, which, depending on the severity of the violation, is punishable by fines within the range of MVR 500 to MVR 5,000 under Decentralization Act.

 The council asked for patience and cooperation from all residents of the city in order to curb the spread of the virus.

It also asked that residents adhere to the instructions of security services.

The virus patient who travelled through Kulhudhuffushi is a resident of H. A. Uligan, who had travelled back to Uligan via boat on April 15 following a visit to the capital Male’ City – which is experiencing a spike in virus cases – which the authorities now believe had gone undetected for at least two to three weeks. The boat which the patient had travelled on had travelled through several islands in northern Maldives, which have been placed under monitoring.

Kulhudhuffushi city council said a number people had travelled to the city from Male’ after COVID-19 began spreading in the capital, and that everyone who had travelled to the city starting from April 1 had been ordered to practice self-isolation at home.

Virus cases in the capital have now risen to 66, and cases nationwide to 86.