President Solih admits April easements were a mistake in managing COVID-19

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has admitted that the government made a mistake in COVID-19 management, but reiterated his belief that the government has not failed in the work. 

The President was speaking in tonight's press conference when he said that the easements introduced in April was not the right move as he was responding to a question by a journalist. However, the President said that now was not the time to point the finger of blame. 

"We have controlled this even before, but we had to introduce the easements because it was not easy for us, the hardships faced by the public and the difficulties faced, due to the lockdown.We tried to do things in a balanced manner,"

"But as you say, the easements introduced in early April, that was not done right, in my belief. I am not going to place the blame on anyone. We are trying to rectify things," said President Solih. 

The President said that with the easements, travel across the nation as well as the movement of people in Male' City went unrestricted, which could have led to the increase in cases. The President did however, say that new variants entering the nation could have also been another factor. 

He said that he did not believe that the government had failed in managing COVID-19 and that the hope was to reduce cases with the currently enhanced measures. President Solih also noted that many nations and governments across the world made mistakes in managing COVID-19. He said that the right move was to learn from the lessons of the mistakes and correct them. 

"I still do not believe we have failed with managing COVID-19. God willing, we will overcome without failure," said the President.

The Local Council Elections held in April had seen easements introduced to the HPA travel restrictions and guidelines in order to facilitate equal campaigning for the elections. the easements allowed travel across the nation. However, cases later on gradually increased, with the month of May confirming an average of 1,000 cases per day. Health experts have also warned that the country could have a new variant of the virus spreading. 

There are currently more than 24,000 active cases. Nearly 70 deaths have been reported in the month of May alone.