Maldives has confirmed a Covid-19 fatality from Gaaf Dhaal atoll.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed that the deceased was an 88-year-old local man who was pronounced dead by doctors at the Gaaf Dhaal Covid Management Facility at 5:30am on Wednesday.

He has been pronounced the country’s 173rd Covid-19 victim.

At 12:48am on Thursday, HPA confirmed the 172nd Covid-19 victim, a 62-year-old local man who was receiving treatment at Hulhumalé Medical Facility.

Of the 173 deaths linked of coronavirus reported in the country so far, the pandemic has claimed 124 lives in the Maldives during 2021 alone.

Maldives reported the highest number of deaths in a single month since the pandemic began, during May 2021, when a total of 88 deaths were confirmed.

With daily Covid-19 cases soaring above 1,000 into the beginning of May, authorities responded by strengthening Covid-19 precautionary measures and guidelines in place. Since then cases have been declining gradually.

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. 12 deaths have been reported so far in June.

Authorities strengthened measures effective from May 26 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. Since then the Covid-19 case load is observed to be declining across the capital region.