India s External Affairs Minister to visit Maldives The Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India Dr. S. Jaishankar will make an official visit to Maldives from 20-21 February 2021. The minister is making the visit on the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives Abdulla Shahid.
The Minister of External Affairs will meet his counterpart on 20 February, following which several Memorandums of Understanding and Agreements are to be signed. The Minister of External Affairs will also call on the President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed, and meet with the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Economic Development, and the Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
Possibility of four variants circulating in the Maldives: HEOC The Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) has stated that it is possible that four different variants of COVID-19 are circulating in the Maldives.
Speaking at a press conference held Wednesday night, member of HEOC’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Dr. Nazla Musthafa said the COVID-19 variant identified in the UK is circulating in the Maldives. While four different variants have been identified across the world, it is possible that all four variants are present in the Maldives, said Dr. Nazla.
“We will know more regarding the variants present in the country once we carry out sequencing via the kits we have with us. The kits already show signs that the UK variant is present in the Maldives. Therefore, we can say the variant is present in the Maldives. However, while there are four variants which are the UK, South African, Brazilian and the Danish variant, we have sent [samples] for sequencing , said Dr. Nazla.
Maldives to consider introducing Vaccine Tourism Tourism Minister Dr. Abdulla Mausoom has stated that the government is contemplating the introduction of ‘Vaccine Tourism’ in the Maldives.
Responding to lawmakers’ questions at Wednesday’s parliament sitting, Dr. Mausoom said while the tourism industry has been promoting Maldives as a ‘Work and Vacation’ destination in the midst of the current global pandemic, the government is considering promoting the Maldives with the tagline, ‘Visit, Vaccine and Vacation’.
The currently available COVID-19 vaccines require two doses of the vaccine to be received within a 3-4 week interval. Therefore, a significant duration of time passes between the administration of the two doses. If tourists stay in the Maldives during that duration, it would be very beneficial for the industry, said the minister.
Maldives expects 1.5 mln tourist arrivals this year Tourism Minister Dr. Abdulla Mausoom has stated that 1.5 million tourists are expected to visit the Maldives this year.
Answering lawmakers’ questions at the Parliament on Wednesday, Dr. Mausoom said the number of tourists that are expected to visit the Maldives this year has been revised once again in light of COVID-19 vaccination programs. The government had earlier estimated that one million tourists would visit the Maldives this year.
555,399 tourists visited the Maldives in 2020, an amount far below government expectations.
While a significant amount of tourists have visited the Maldives since the beginning of this year, the number still lingers behind previous estimates. The minister noted that the target number of tourists did not visit the Maldives due to the COVID-19 situation in Europe worsening over the past couple of months. While arrivals from the European market declined as a result, the introduction of vacci