Police: Applicants will receive household permits by 08:00 hours on May 26

Maldives Police Service states that those who have requested for household permits needed to go out when new restrictions in the Maldivian capital kicks-in will receive their permits before 08:00 hours on Wednesday.

The Maldivian capital will be under curfew from 16:00-08:00 hours starting Wednesday, and household permits will be required to go out to access essential services during non-curfew hours.

Requests for household permits must be made through the police portal. And those who submit requests need to submit their electricity meter number.

Each household will receive two permits. One which can be used between 08:00-12:00 hours, and another which can be used between 12:00-16:00 hours.

Police announced this Tuesday afternoon that those who have submitted requests for household permits will receive their permits via SMS before 08:00 hours on Wednesday.

They issued a reminder to submit requests with the electricity meter number, and warned that requests without the number will be rejected.

Police have stated that household permits cannot be used to travel between Male’ City and suburban Hulhumale’.

The new restrictions come amid an escalation in COVID-19 infections and fatalities in recent weeks. Over 60 fatalities have been recorded this May alone.

Maldives has 57,341 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 1,417 new cases recorded on Monday. 33,136 patients have since recovered, while 144 have died from complications.

The country currently has 24,057 active cases. 282 of the patients are hospitalized.

With the surge in positive cases and their contacts, health authorities have abandoned tracing all contacts and decided to limit contact tracing in the greater Male’ area to high-risk contacts.

Meanwhile, curfews have been imposed in all residential islands outside the capital placed under monitoring.