Velaa resort to donate masks, gloves to virus-hit Narudhoo

Luxury Maldivian resort, Velaa Private Island has pledged to provide essential medical gear to Sh. Narudhoo as it deals with an outbreak of COVID-19.

Moosa Hussainfulhu, the focal point of Narudhoo social support desk and the council’s in-charge, told Sun the donations pledged by Velaa included protective medical gear.

“Velaa has pledged to provide masks, gloves and other such items. We have yet to receive any more details. They made the pledge during a conference call with council members today,” said Moosa.

Narudhoo council president Ahmed Arif told Sun a senior official from Velaa had called the council and pledged to donate masks, gloves and other such essentials.

Arif too, said the council did not yet know the quantities or any further details pertaining to the donation.

The pledge of assistance by Velaa comes after the council raised the alarm that it was running short of masks, gloves and other medical equipment.

The owners of Velaa had also recently donated a large shipment of medical equipment to Maldives, which included five ventilators, 10,000 test kits, 100,000 masks, 200 respirators, and 500 PPE sets.

A team of medical professionals from Male’, headed by Health Minister Abdulla Ameen, visited Narudhoo on Sunday. Ameen stated during the visit that he would allocate MVR 10,000 from the Health Ministry budget to assist the island.

Meanwhile, Sh. Atoll council has pledged to allocate separate MVR 11,000 from its budget to support Narudhoo.

The first to test positive for COVID-19 from Narudhoo was the captain of the passenger boat Amaaz, which had left Male’ carrying passengers to islands in northern Maldives on April 15, just minutes prior to the lockdown on the capital.

While 11 have now tested positive for COVID-19 in Narudhoo, the results of many who have been ordered to self-isolation remain pending.