Maldives Police Service (MPS) took action on 193 lockdown violations on Thursday.

In a daily publication to the media, the authority revealed that officers patrolling the region had taken seven individuals under their custody and imposed fines on 186 individuals on Thursday for breaching the lockdown order.

Out of the 186 fines imposed for violating the order, 167 were from Malé, 12 from Hulhumalé and seven from Villimalé.

The total amount to be paid in fines exceed MVR 8.9 million now and the total number of fines imposed thus far sits at 8,915; 7,963 were in Malé, 812 from Hulhumalé and 140 were fined from Villimalé.

Further, all seven arrests made on Thursday were from the capital city.

This pushes the total number of individuals under police custody to 589 out of which 540 were from Malé, 46 are from Hulhumalé and three are from Villimalé.

Under the orders of the Director General of Public Health, first time violators of the lockdown will be fined MVR 1,000 fines and repeat offenders will be arrested under Article 533 (a) of the Penal Code.

The lockdown ease plan came into effect on May 29 and the two weeks of the first phase have since ended, authorities revealed on Thursday that the second phase will be initiated from June 15 onwards.

Since the Maldives capital Malé City was locked down on April 15 following the detection of the first ever Covid-19 community transmission, police had been issuing daily permits for individuals to go out for essential supplies. Authorities continue to issue permits, to three individuals from each households, even now and individuals will be allowed to go out without permits from June 15 onwards.