Over 300 people stranded in the capital due to the ongoing travel restrictions, have been evacuated.

Over 2,700 individuals who were stranded in Malé City due to the restrictions and wished to travel to their home islands have been moved to ‘transit’ quarantine facilities. Authorities made the decision to allow them to travel only after completing 14 days in quarantine and tested for Covid-19, as part of the work to ensure that the virus does not spread to the outlying atolls.

NEOC spokesperson Mohamed Mabrook Aziz on Sunday said that a total of 360 individuals have returned to their home islands after finishing the quarantine period.

At least seven resorts are being used as transit quarantine facilities.

While there have been concern over the delay in sending individuals to home islands, authorities stressed that this is not due to lack of resources but because authorities do not want to risk the virus spreading in these communities.

Phase one of lockdown easing began on Friday, however, unauthorized travel between islands is still banned.