Coronavirus: Maldives tightens curfew, bans India tourists on Covid concern

The Maldives, which has one of the world’s fastest growing Covid-19 outbreaks, has tightened restrictions. Residents of Male, the capital, are now required to stay indoors from 4 p.m., until 4 a.m. and visas for tourists from India and other nations in South Asia will be halted from May 13, the Indian Ocean archipelago’s Health Protection Agency said in Twitter postings.

The curfew, which had previously started at 9 p.m., will be imposed for a week. Other restrictions include a ban on group prayers at mosques, halting physical classes at universities and limiting restaurants to takeaways, the agency said.

As of Monday the country had the most new cases per 100,000 people in the past five, seven and 14 days. Active cases jumped from 4,978 to 11,629 on May 11. About 36.6% of the population of over 500,000 has received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

Seychelles, another Indian Ocean tourist destination, is suffering a similar surge in Covid-19 cases.