Covid-19: Maldives reports 73 new cases, additional death
HPA on Wednesday night reported the country's 215th fatality to Covid-19
(File photo) Healthcare workers active in the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic
Maldives reported 73 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, pushing the country’s total case count to 75,405.
The new cases were from over 6,000 samples tested within 24 hours; 46 were detected from residential islands where daily cases continue to surpass the Covid-19 epicenter capital Male’ City, where 14 new cases were confirmed on Wednesday. Nine of the cases are from resorts, three from liveaboard vessels and one from an island under development.
While daily cases remained below 100 for four days from July 9, 170 new cases were reported on Tuesday with 60 of these from islands under development and 78 from residential islands.
Wednesday’s numbers pushes the country’s Covid-19 total to 75,405 and with the 109 recoveries reported, 72,678 patients have recovered.
Also, an additional coronavirus-related death was reported on Wednesday night; a 60-year-old local man receiving treatment at the Hulhumale’ Medical Facility (HMF). While this pushes the country's death toll to 215, this was the fourth Covid-19 fatality reported this July.
The island nation reported the highest number of deaths in a single month since the pandemic began, in May 2021, when a total of 88 deaths were confirmed. 50 deaths were reported in June.
Out of the 2,501 active cases, 16 patients are receiving treatment at hospitals or treatment facilities.
While the government began easing Covid-19 restrictions last year following a decline in cases, the spike of over 1,000 daily cases seen from April was confirmed as a "fourth wave" and forced authorities to strengthen the restrictions especially in the capital.
These measures have been eased thrice since as the country’s Covid-19 situation continued to improve, including lifting of the curfew in the capital.
Other eases effective from July 8 include allowing fully vaccinated individuals to travel to islands not under monitoring without the need to quarantine as well as reducing quarantine period of inbound travelers, with a negative PCR test. All businesses have also been allowed to resume at their full capacity, with authorities even allowing restaurants and cafés to provide dine-in services until 11:30pm.
The country remains in a state of public health emergency since 12 March 2020 which was last extended to expire on 2 August.
