Maldives Resort Also Faces COVID-19 Surge... Confirmed Cases Increase 15-Fold in One Month

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The island nation of Maldives in the Indian Ocean, famous as a resort destination, is also on high alert due to the spread of COVID-19.

According to the real-time statistics site Worldometer on the 13th, the daily new COVID-19 cases in Maldives reached 1,572 the previous day, breaking the previous record of 1,501 set just one day earlier.

With a population of 550,000, Maldives had fewer than 100 new daily cases as recently as mid-last month. This means the number has increased more than 15 times in just one month. The cumulative number of confirmed cases on this day was 40,092.

As the spread worsened, the Maldives government decided on the previous day to ban the entry of tourists from neighboring South Asian countries.

On the 12th, Maldives immigration authorities announced, "From the 13th, tourists arriving from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Bhutan will be banned from entering."

Considering that most tourists visiting Maldives recently are from these South Asian countries, the Maldives authorities have effectively decided to give up a significant portion of the tourism industry for the time being and focus on quarantine measures.

To prevent virus spread, Maldives had blocked foreign tourists from entering since March last year but began gradually allowing entry starting in July of the same year, including resuming international flights.

Since then, foreign tourists have steadily increased, with about 87,000 in December and 300,000 from January to March this year.

In particular, recently, Bollywood stars and wealthy individuals from India have flocked to Maldives to escape the local COVID-19 surge. The number of tourists visiting Maldives last year was 546,012.

Maldives authorities also extended the curfew starting time from 9 p.m. to 4 p.m. The curfew ends at 4 a.m.

Maldives is also accelerating vaccination efforts, having completed at least the first dose for 60% of the population.

However, about half of the young population aged 18 to 29 have not yet received even the first dose. The proportion of those who have completed the second dose is reported to be less than 25% of the population.

According to the United Nations, 80-90% of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.