The Maldives has yet again extended its state of public health emergency after a surge in COVID-19 cases in the island nation. The announcement was made by the Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem.

This is the 13th extension of the state of public health emergency since it was first declared on March 12, 2020, according to Avas.mv. 

The emergency state was invoked by former Health Minister Abdulla Ameen on March 12 last year for a period of 30 days by the discretionary powers vested in the minister by Section 33 of the 7/2012 Public Health Act. The measure was taken after the World Health Organization (WHO) classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic.

Since then, the state of public health emergency has been extended several times. While the most recent extension of the emergency state expired on April 4, the Health Ministry announced that the public health emergency state will be on until May 12 as COVID-19 still remains a threat to the Maldives.

Any special measures that the situation calls for will be taken accordingly.

Maldives has recorded 24,783 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so, and 67 COVID-19 deaths. The number of active cases is 3,061.

The number of positive cases have been increasing rapidly over the past few weeks, and authorities have further imposed restrictions.