Male, Jun 9 (IANS): Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih announced on Tuesday that his country's ongoing restrictions to contain the Covid-19 pandemic will be extended by one week.

Solih said that the anti-epidemic measures, such as a curfew between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. local time and a ban on traveling outdoors without a police permit, will be extended by another week to reduce the country's infection rate, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Solih said that the situation would be reviewed again at the end of this period.

Infections and deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic reached a peak in the Maldives in mid-May, leading to the government to enforce stricter restrictions on May 26, initially for a two-week period. The restrictions have been successful in bringing down the daily case count from a high of over 2,000 in May to below 500 in the last week.

The Maldives began its vaccination program on February 1 and has so far provided at least one dose to 312,133 people and two doses to 173,291 people. The country has so far recorded 68,502 cases of Covid-19 and 187 deaths from the virus.