Maldives reported 1,603 new Covid-19 cases alongside four fatalities from the infection, with the nation's active case count crossing the 21,000-mark on Friday.

Latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) reveal that a total of 1,603 new Covid-19 infections were detected nationwide between 6pm Thursday and 6pm Friday. 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 1,603 new cases, 1,205 new Covid-19 infections were detected from the Male' area, with 571 new cases reported from inhabited islands, and seven cases from operational resorts.

Health authorities tested a total of 6,320 samples for the infection between Thursday and Friday.

The country's total Covid-19 case tally is now 52,405, 40 percent of which are active cases. There are currently 21,079 active cases of Covid-19 in the Maldives.

By the end of Friday, there were 286 people receiving in-hospital care for Covid-19 in Maldives. The island nation most recently having confirmed the 120th death linked to the infection since the pandemic first surfaced in the country in March 2020. HPA revealed the most recent death as that of a 57-year-old local female, who passed away at 07:46pm on Friday while admitted for Covid-19 treatment at Hulhumale' Medical Facility.

A further 794 recoveries from the infection were reported on Friday, 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 in light of the recent surge in Covid-19 cases. The Maldivian government and HPA have 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 due to the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, with the last extension set to expire on June 3.