With a surge in COVID cases in the Maldives, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has extended restrictions to check its spread.

The Director-General of Public Health, Maimoona Aboobakur, said restrictive measures were imposed in the capital Male’ on February 4 after the number of COVID-19 cases started increasing rapidly.

In a fresh directive, she announced that the measures will remain in place for another week.

The measures taken by HPA include restrictions on vehicular movement for a few hours and a curfew from late night to early morning. While HPA has also instructed all parks and public squares to be closed temporarily except for those exercising individually and the elderly, all team sports have also been suspended.

Also, those traveling to the islands for important work for short periods are required to have a negative PCR test confirming that they do not have the virus.

Parties and other public events have also banned, and those arriving in the Maldives from abroad, with the exception of tourists, are required to complete a 10-day quarantine.

The Maldives is said to be experiencing its third wave of pandemic, with the introduction of the United Kingdom’s highly contagious virus variant.

Currently, the island nation has recorded a total of 21,144 virus cases of which 2,539 are active cases. So far 64 deaths have been recorded.