Director General of Public Health, Maimoona Aboobakuru has ordered to quarantine all expatriates who have been exposed to the risk of COVID-19 with the inclusion of anyone who may have potentially been exposed as well.

A statement issued by the Director General of Public Health noted that due to the spread of COVID-19 in Male' City and since it is spreading at an alarming rate among expat workers as they are highly vulnerable, several steps are to be taken starting today till further notice.

The statement clarifies four situations in which expat workers will be quarantined.

First situation is the lack of a specific accommodation or workplace in the Greater Male' Region. The Director General of Public Health had stressed that if further action regarding them are not taken, the virus will spread among them at a rapid speed.

While Police are looking after several staff quarters where expat workers reside in Male', all workers staying in these quarters are also now going to be quarantined since many of them are contacts of various positive cases.

Police is currently looking after 23 such accommodations. These are small spaces where a large number of workers are living in making it an easy target for the virus to spread at an increasingly alarming level. Last Thursday itself saw 95 cases being reported from such quarters.

The third situation which calls for a quarantine is being a direct or indirect contact of a positive patient.

While 491 cases of COVID-19 has been reported in the Maldives, most of these include foreign workers.