Aitken Spence Hotels Maldives has donated protective equipment to help the Maldives contain the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Officials from the company delivered 12,000 surgical masks to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Monday.

“With care and service ingrained into the brand ethos of both Adaaran and Heritance, we have extended its support as part of their ongoing efforts to assist in the mitigation of Covid-19 contagion,” an announcement read.

Aitken Spence runs five resorts in the Maldives under its Adaaran Resorts Maldives brand: Adaaran Club Rannalhi, Adaaran Select Meedhupparu, Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi and Adaaran Prestige Vadoo.

The Sri Lankan conglomerate has also opened a new property in the Maldives under its Heritance brand: Heritance Aarah.

Well-wishers have donated medical supplies and protective equipment to support the Maldives’ efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

On March 8, Maldives reported its first cases of the novel coronavirus, as two hotel employees tested positive for Covid-19 at a luxury resort in the archipelago.

Eighteen more cases — all foreigners working or staying resorts and liveaboard vessels except five Maldivians who had returned from abroad — were later identified.

A six-case cluster of locals, detected in capital Male on April 15, confirmed community transmission of the coronavirus. Several more clusters have since been identified, bringing the total number of confirmed case in the Maldives to 2,323.

Eight deaths have been reported and 1,911 have made full recoveries.

The Maldives announced a state of public health emergency on March 12, the first such declaration under a recent public health protection law.

The public health emergency declaration allowed the government to introduce a series of unprecedented restrictive and social distancing measures, including stay-at-home orders in capital Male and its suburbs, a ban on inter-island transport and public gatherings across the country, and a nationwide closing of government offices, schools, colleges and universities.

Non-essential services and public places in the capital such as gyms, cinemas and parks were also shut.

Restaurants and cafes in the capital were asked to stop dine-in service and switch to takeaway and delivery.

A nationwide shutdown of all guesthouses, city hotels and spa facilities located on inhabited islands was also ordered.

These measures allowed authorities to contain the outbreak.

More than half of the people who contracted the virus have recovered and daily recoveries have over taken the number of new infections detected per day.

The restrictions are now being eased in phases, with the second phase lasting at least until June end.

The Maldives is also preparing to reopen its borders on July 15.