COVID-19: Maldives to cut quarantine time to 10 days

Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced the decision to cut quarantine time for people who test positive for COVID-19 to 10 days. 

The decision was announced in a press conference on Tuesday morning.  

At the press conference, HPA’s medical officer Dr. Fathimath Nazla Rafeeg said quarantine time will be cut to 10 days for fully vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19. 

The quarantine time will start from the day the sample is taken for testing. 

Contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases who are fully vaccinated will have two options. 

In the first option, contacts will be quarantined for 10 days, after which they will be released without testing if they show no symptoms. However, those who are symptomatic will be subject to testing. 

In the second option, contacts can get tested after five days of quarantine and get released if they test negative. 

Nazla said that people who aren’t fully vaccinated will need to undergo 14 days of quarantine as currently practiced. They will be released from quarantine once they test negative after the 14 days. 

The decision to shorten quarantine time comes as Maldives battles a surge in COVID-19 cases, especially in the capital. 

Nazla confirmed on Tuesday that there is a community spread of the Omicron variant in the capital. 

Sample positivity rate in the capital, which stood at three percent at the end of last year, has now risen to 10 percent.