Police are to continue issuing permits for individuals to go out during phase one of lockdown easing, while the Malé City Council is to give approval for businesses.

This was revealed at a press conference held at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) on Thursday night.

At the press conference, Deputy Mayor Shamau Shareef said that businesses will have to apply for permits through a platform on the city council’s website and that the police will issue the permits after the council’s approval.

The council is to ensure whether the businesses meet the guidelines by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Businesses that are being allowed to reopen during phase one include supermarkets, bakeries, corner stores, bookshops and hardware stores.

While only one individual from each household was given permits to leave homes for one hour during lockdown, three from each household will be allowed to go out during phase one and for a duration of two hours.

Joining Thursday night’s press conference, Assistant Commissioner of Police Abdulla Fairoosh said that registrations for this will be open from 12am on Friday.

Despite this, Fairoosh noted that people can continue to use the permits which have already been issued by the police.

He added that they expect to receive about 31,000 requests from households.

Further, he said that they might not be able to provide the requested time to go out as the timings will be issued randomly.