President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has decided to appoint government delegates to monitor and strengthen the coordination of COVID-19 response in each atoll.
Ministry of Health revealed the president decided to appoint delegates to each atoll in order to enable the local councils and COVID-19 taskforces in the atolls to directly report all difficulties and challenges faced in managing the COVID-19 situation and facilitate assistance without delays. The health ministry said the delegates would be selected among state ministers and deputy ministers from different government ministries. The ministry said the delegates would be tasked with closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation in their respective atolls, and strengthening the coordination of the COVID-19 response.
The government has been taking several measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, following the latest surge of cases across the country. The average daily number of cases have been above 1,000 for the past few weeks, while the number of hospitalized patients and deaths have continued to increase sharply.
President Solih has formed a special ministerial committee, chaired by himself, to make policy-level decisions with regards to controlling the spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the operations of the Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) are directly overseen by Vice President Faisal Naseem.