Speaker of Parliament and former President, Mohamed Nasheed has undergone testing for the fast-spreading Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19).

Nasheed underwent the Covid-19 test on Wednesday evening, at the parliament building.

The former president had to undergo testing as he returned from the United Kingdom on March 14, and authorities on Tuesday revealed plans to test all UK arrivals between 14-19 March. This decision was reached after three Maldivians that returned from UK tested positive to Covid-19.

Speaking at Wednesday’s online sitting, the speaker noted that authorities had not made the decision to test all inbound passengers from UK at the time of his arrival on 14 March. Maldives had not even issued a travel advisory to UK by then. As such, Nasheed stated that he had not undergone testing upon arrival despite being in self-isolation but stressed that he is ready to do so.

While the government has been quarantining all arrivals since March 22, they recently made the decision to test them before release.

The fourth local case was confirmed on Wednesday afternoon and patient 19 had tested positive during quarantine, after returning from UK as well.