Maldives on Monday reported a slight increase in Covid-19 cases.

While the Health Protection Agency (HPA) reported 140 new cases on Monday, the country’s active case has increased to 2,470 from the previous day’s 2,425 cases. 74 of the new cases are from residential islands, while 59 are from Greater Male’ Region and seven from resorts.

This pushes the country’s Covid-19 case count to 76,019, and with the 95 additional recoveries, a total of 73,321 patients have recovered in the island nation.

Also, an additional coronavirus-related death was reported on Tuesday morning; a 91-year-old local woman receiving treatment at the Baa atoll Covid-19 Management Facility. While this pushes the country's death toll to 217, this was the sixth Covid-19 fatality recorded 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 recorded in June.

Out of the 2,470 active cases, 14 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.