Maldives reported a record 2,194 Covid-19 infections on Thursday, with 1,698 cases detected from Male' City as the nation faces the worst peak of the global pandemic thus far.

Amid the deadliest month yet for Covid-19, Maldives reported an additional 691 new cases of Covid-19 between Wednesday and Thursday, alongside the detection of 1,503 new infections from backlog samples.

Latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) reveal that a total of 2,194 new Covid-19 infections were detected nationwide between 6pm Wednesday and 6pm Thursday. The past month has been the worst for Covid-19 in the Maldives since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, with the island nation reporting over 1,000 new infections every day in recent weeks.

Of the 2,194 new cases, 691 infections were detected over the past 24 hours between 19th and 20th May, with 1,503 infections corresponding to positive cases from backlog samples.

An overwhelming 1,698 new Covid-19 infections were detected from the Male' area, and 467 new cases were reported from inhabited islands across Maldives alongside 29 additional cases from operational resorts.

Health authorities tested a total of 7,259 samples for the infection between Wednesday and Thursday.

With the latest updates, Maldives' total Covid-19 case tally has crossed the 50,000-case mark and is currently 50,802. The number of active case count of Covid-19 across the island nation is now 20,276.

By the end of Thursday, there were 280 people receiving in-hospital care for Covid-19 in Maldives. The island nation most recently having confirmed the 114th fatality linked to the infection since the pandemic first surfaced in the country in March 2020. HPA revealed the most recent death as the passing of a 62-year-old male brought to the Emergency Room at ADK Hospital, who was declared dead at 6:52pm. Two C

A further 759 recoveries from the infection were reported on Thursday, bringing the total number of recoveries observed for the infection in Maldives up to 30,403.

Pandemic safety measures have been strengthened across the Maldives once more. HPA has also urged civil servants as well as those employed in private companies to work from home in order to slow the spread. Health authorities also recently extended the quarantine period for travel within islands to 14 days. In addition to this, Covid-19 health and safety measures enacted across the Maldives on May 3 have been extended for another week, including a 12-hour curfew in effective in the Greater Male' region.

Public health authorities continue to stress the importance of following Covid-19 health and safety measures set to control transmission of the virus, including social distancing, avoiding public gatherings, maintaining hand hygiene and effective masking while outdoors.

Maldives has been in a state of public health emergency for over a year and the last extension is set to expire on June 3.