Maldives has confirmed the 145th death linked to Covid-19.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed that the patient, a 91-year-old local man, succumbed to complications of coronavirus at 10:20am on Wednesday.

The Covid-19 patient was admitted at Addu Covid Management Facility for treatment.

The pandemic has claimed 96 lives in the Maldives during 2021, 72 of which have been reported thus far in May. This is the highest number of deaths to have been reported in a month since the pandemic began.

HPA continues to report alarming numbers of Covid-19 fatalities across the Maldives, as the country struggles to control a devastating surge in daily infections being reported over recent weeks. Maldives is currently experiencing a devastating Covid-19 peak like never observed before, with daily infections soaring above 1,000 over recent days.

Authorities earlier stressed that Covid-19 fatalities had doubled in count since January 2021. As such, while four deaths were observed in January, the number increased to 10 during February. Six Covid-19 fatalities were reported during March as well as April.

With an alarming spike in case count over the past few days, hospitalizations are also increasing in comparison to the past month. There has been increasing concern over hospital beds filling up across the Maldives capital, hit hardest by the pandemic.

Maldives active Covid-19 tally is currently over 24,000 with the country’s total case count exceeding the 58,000-mark. Authorities have imposed strict measures in the capital region as well as in outlying atolls in light of the spiking cases. As such authorities strengthened measures to be effective from Wednesday onwards. The curfew period has been extended from 4pm to 8am and individuals will only be allowed to go out outside of the curfew hours, under a special permit.