Maldives Covid-19 cast tally has been pushed to 87,784.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed 146 new Covid-19 infections between 6pm Saturday and 6pm Sunday, as well as 77 additional recoveries.

3,214 samples were tested for the infection in the reporting period, of which 102 returned positive from residential islands outside of the congested capital, Greater Malé Region where 33 new cases were confirmed. The remaining 11 were from operational resorts.

With this, active cases across the nation have also risen to 1,792.

With the additional recoveries confirmed, the total number of recoveries confirmed by sundown on Sunday has risen to 85,736.

While the public health authority had not publicized its daily figures for the past two days, the authority revealed that 98 Covid-19 infections were detected from 2,628 samples collected on Friday, whereas 53 were detected out of 1,245 samples tested on Saturday.

Friday’s cases included 76 detected from outlying atolls, 18 from the capital and four from operational resorts, whereas Saturday’s figures included 37 from atolls, 13 from Malé City and three from operational resorts.

Over the past three days, just one patient was hospitalized for treatment, with which hospital admissions have risen to 30.

Maldives reported its first Covid-19 fatality in April 2020 and since then, the death toll has risen to 243. The latest victim was reported early Thursday, when an 81-year-old woman died from complications while receiving treatment at the Addu Covid Management Facility. 12 Covid-19 deaths have been confirmed so far in October.

Maldives was faced by a fourth and more infectious coronavirus wave in early May, with cases rising to alarming levels at 1,000 on a daily basis. With the implementation of stricter measures, cases began declining once again, and authorities introduced further eases to restrictions in early July for the extensive government holidays.

Eases have been doubling with those that have completed both doses of Covid-19 vaccine allowed to travel domestically without the need to quarantine, with a negative PCR test result. HPA continues to practice caution as the pandemic is far from being controlled, despite declining numbers in recent months. For over a month, the country has been free from further restrictions in the face of the pandemic, however, the authorities continue to remind the public to be vigilant as the country heads down the road to full recovery from the impacts of Covid-19. Although life is far from reaching normal yet, the government's resilience to vaccinate the entire nation has revived hopes of eases from further burden, in the new normal.

The geographical advantage of being comprised of a scatter of islands initially enabled Maldives to keep tabs on the spread of coronavirus when the first few cases surfaced. Things spiraled out of control after a community transmission was detected in the congested capital on 15 April 2020 to which authorities responded by imposing an immediate lockdown.

Months later, authorities began easing the lockdown in phases, with cases going on a downward spiral. Things seemed to be in control until the new year rolled around and cases began spiraling once more. Since April 2020, authorities have been repeating a cycle of curfews, lockdowns, partial lockdowns and other restrictive measures in their successful efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

The country has been in a state of public health emergency for over a year, since 12 March 2020. It was extended a 19th time to expire on October 31.