Director General of Public Health, Maimoona Abubakur has said that the threat of COVID-19 has not given down and it is important to remain in a state of National Health Emergency.

She made the statement in response to a question from the MP for North Thinadhoo constituency, Abdul Mugnee at the Parliament's Economic Committee today where members from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) were summoned for questioning.

MP Mugnee raised the question as to if the National Health Emergency was necessary even now where the country has been in such a state for almost an year.

In response, the Director General of Public Health said that the threat of COVID-19 has not gone down and the whole world still sees the current situation as a pandemic.

She said that the state of National Emergency is necessary to implement safety measures as quickly as possible and without it, it would be difficult to implement safety measures against COVID-19.

Regarding the lifting of restrictions, Maimoona said that a decision would be made after discussing with the relevant authorities based on the success of the vaccination program. And she called on everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

In response to the question from the MPs regarding the restrictions against food-related businesses, Maimoona said that no further restrictions are scheduled at this time.