National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) has called on the visitors of Gulfood Expo 2020 to report to the Health Protection Authority (HPA).
Speaking at the daily press conference held at the NEOC, Dr. Ibrahim Afzal from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) requested individuals who have returned to the Maldives after visiting the expo to report themselves to HPA by calling its hotline 1676. Most people who visited the expo held in Dubai from February 16 to 20 are understood to be foreign nationals.
The doctor said HPA made the decision not because the people who visited the expo contacted with the people who got infected, but rather to identify whether any COVID-19 symptoms were identified from the people who visited the expo. He further explained the people who contracted COVID-19 by visiting the expo got the symptoms subsided before it resurfaced again. Hence, HPA intends to identify if the symptoms lasted longer than the duration normally expected as these cases are understood to have been different from the other cases in the Maldives.
Additionally, NEOC said there is no point in isolating those individuals now, although those who had visited the expo might have contracted COVID-19 before they returned back to the Maldives. Hence, HPA intends to gather the information to backtrack the number of cases in the Maldives.