President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Sunday evening announced his decision to lift the state of public health emergency in force since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. After consulting with public health experts, the President made the announcement in a televised address to the nation, lifting the state of public health emergency declared two years ago.

Following the lifting of the public health emergency, the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) spokesperson Dr. Nazla Rafeeg has announced changes for the Covid-19 control measures.

These include revoking travelers to mandatory PCR testing, even if they aren’t vaccinated, and mandatory quarantine for inbound travelers. HEOC also announced that masks are no longer mandatory across the country.

Speaking further, Dr. Nazla reminded that even though the Public Health Emergency has been revoked, Covid-19 is still a pandemic, and vulnerable people still are at risk. Hence testing for people if you are symptomatic, isolation for people who test positive, and quarantine for direct contacts will still be continued as part of the Covid-19 response.

Meanwhile, masks will continue to be mandatory in health facilities and in islands and areas where the positivity rate is higher than 20 percent.

Maldives declared a state of public health emergency on March 12, 2020, following the first COVID-19 case on March 7, 2020.