Dr. Afzal: 50 virus cases per day is low enough to ease measures

National Emergency Operations Center medical officer Dr. Ibrahim Afzal has stated that the Maldives will follow the guidelines of WHO in relaxing the lockdown and restrictive measures in place around the country.

Dr. Afzal stated that 50 cases per day was a low figure for the restrictive measures to be relaxed.

Male’ City is under a strict curfew and lockdown since April 15 when a community case of the virus was identified. The government had recently announced that some of the measures in place are to be relaxed starting from May 28.

In a press conference tonight, Dr. Afzal said that 50 cases per day in a populous city such as Male’ was not a high figure when taking into account viral diseases such as COVID-19.

“We all want to relax the lockdown when the situation calms down to zero or five infections. However, there are other ways that we can move forward,” said Dr. Afzal.

The journey to return back to normal could be commenced under phases even if the situation did not fully subside, said Dr. Afzal.

“We don’t have to see the best situation when we go for a new normal. We have to start at a level where the indications are held steadily,” said Dr. Afzal.

The situation would be evaluated without repealing the lockdown order said Dr. Afzal who added that the next phase would be commenced after carefully monitoring.