Male' City Council has stated some services in the capital have been interrupted due to the increased rate of the spread of COVID-19 among expatriate workers.
Speaking to PSM News, Male' City Mayor Sifa Mohamed said a large number of expatriates working in the capital have been put on isolation after contracting COVID-19, which has led to the interruption of some services such as delivery, transport, and cleaning. The mayor said the situation has highlighted the need to build a larger workforce consisting of locals, adding efforts are underway to prepare a paper on the matter upon discussions with relevant authorities and organisations. She said the target is to produce a new workforce of at least 300 locals by the end of the pandemic.
The spread of COVID-19 in the Maldives has been most prominent among expatriate workers. The government has begun relocating expatriates living in congested spaces in the capital to new accommodation facilities in order to reduce the risk of transmission. The government is also in efforts to repatriate a large number of undocumented workers to their home countries.
Statistics from Maldives Immigration indicate over 130,000 expatriates work in the Maldives, including nearly 100,000 in Male'. Meanwhile, the total number of undocumented workers across the country is over 60,000.