Around 500 tourists stranded in the Maldives from a month, no hope of going back home anytime soon

Given the sudden worldwide lockdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of people got stuck wherever they were, miles away from their homes. In recent news, the Maldives government announced that there are more than hundreds of tourists still stranded on the island.

Country’s tourism minister, Ali Waheed broke this news after more than a month of the arrival of the Coronavirus in the Maldives. He informed that there were nearly 500 tourists on various islands of the nation, while 100 of them are stranded at the airport.
The Maldivian government is helping every tourist, who can’t continue staying in lavish resorts because of budget constraints. According to the minister, these tourists for them are like locals as “they are the people who have brought this country to where it is now.”

Maldives is one gorgeous island nation set in the Indian Ocean. The destination is pure luxury and renowned for its opulent resorts and heavenly private islands. The tourism industry, which was thriving here is now rocked by the COVID-19 lockdown. All the national borders have been sealed and flights have been cancelled.
A few days back, news came in about a few couples stuck on the Maldivian islands and a number of articles were written on their ‘never-ending honeymoon’ period.

As for the Maldives, the first two COVID-19 cases in the island nation were confirmed on March 8. Considering how small the country is, the health minister declared a public health emergency on March 12.

Since then, the number of COVID-19 positive cases have gone up to 468 on the island; while 17 have recovered, 1 person has died from the virus.