The Maldives have banned people who have come from Italy. (File)
Male:
The Maldives slowed the movement on several vacation islands, authorities said on Sunday after the country reported its first two cases of coronavirus.
The two infected people, who are both Kuredu Island Resort employees, tested positive late Saturday. It is believed that they got the disease from an Italian tourist who returned to Italy and tested positive there.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, more than 1,400 people live on the island, who are divided equally between guests and employees.
"These two positive cases come from a resort. They work for the resort and are now being quarantined," said Ali Waheed, the island's tourism minister, whose economy is heavily dependent on foreign tourists.
"The time period for the temporary restrictions is set by the medical teams. At the moment we have identified people who have been in contact with the patients and who are self-isolating along with secondary contacts. At this point we can say that they will monitored for a fortnight. "
Waheed said the country is still deciding whether tourists who have no contact with the patients can leave.
It has banned passengers who are from Italy or who have traveled or stayed in Italy in the past 14 days, starting on Sunday.
Officials at the Kuredu Island Resort were not immediately available for comment.
The Maldives Health Protection Agency (HPA) said on Sunday that it had introduced "temporary restrictive measures" on a second island after an Italian citizen developed symptoms at the Sandies Resort on Bathala Island. It was unclear how many people were on the island.
It added that two French nationals on a third island showing symptoms of the disease had tested negative and the travel restrictions there had been lifted.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and published from a syndicated feed.)
