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Maldives bars tourists from India from inhabited islands

Move may not affect travel by Bollywood stars making use of private islands

disha-patani-maldives via Instagram | @dishapatani

With 1,190 islands, the Maldives archipelago has long been a traveller’s dream, but it’s stunning vistas have been even more sought after in the age of COVID-19, as Bolylwood superstars flocked to its sandy shores to the detriment of those back home who felt stifled by quarantines and lockdowns.

However, effective April 27, Maldives will no longer permit tourists from India to stay in tourist facilities in inhabited islands (only around 185 islands are inhabited).

“With effect from 27 April @HPA_mv suspends tourists travelling from #India to #Maldives from staying at tourist facilities in inhabited islands. We thank you for the support in our endeavour to make tourism safest possible with minimum inconvenience,” Maldives tourism ministry tweeted on April 25.

The island nation has just under 28,000 cases of COVID-19, while bigger neighbour India has over 17.5 million. As India grapples with far-deadlier second wave of the virus, suspected linked to a new and more infectious mutant variant as well as to lapses in social distancing, neighbouring and distant nations alike have imposed travel bans on India.

A recent debate on social media, over whether it was right of celebrities like Alia Bhatt or Disha Patani to post sunkissed photos from the Maldives, has latched on to the coronavirus-related travel ban, sparking memes and mirth.

However, since the ban only applies to inhabited islands, there is a chance wealthy celebs can still travel to the uninhabited ones.

Among the celebrities who visited Maldives since 2020 include Alia Bhatt, Bipasa Basu and Disha Patani. The resultant beach holiday photos sparked criticism from actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who said in an interview “Logon ke pass khana nahin hai aur aap paise phenk rahe ho. Kuch toh sharm karo (People do not have food and you are wasting money, have some shame).

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