Maldives reported 127 new Covid-19 cases and 159 recoveries over the past 24 hours.

According to the latest figures publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), 4,138 samples were tested for the virus between 6pm Saturday and 6pm Sunday.

Of these, 88 returned positive from islands outside of the congested capital, Greater Malé Region, where 25 new infections were confirmed and the remaining 14 were detected from operational resorts.

With this development, the country’s active coronavirus case count has dropped to 2,196 from the previous day’s 2,228.

Hospital admissions dropped to eight with the release of five Covid-19 patients in the reporting period.

This is the 15th consecutive day Maldives has been reporting over 100 Covid-19 cases daily.

Since the discovery of the virus in the Maldives back in March 2020, the country’s Covid-19 case tally has risen to 89,840.

This means that the total number of recoveries confirmed nationwide have been pushed to 87,384.

Although Maldives had observed declining Covid-19 cases especially in the capital region over recent months, daily coronavirus infections being reported in recent days have been spiking, especially in outlying atolls.

Maldives reported its first Covid-19 fatality in April 2020 and since then, the death toll has risen to 247. The latest victim was reported when an 81-year-old local man died from complications while receiving treatment at Addu Covid Management Facility, early Thursday. This is the fourth Covid-19 fatality reported in November.

The country has been in a state of public health emergency for over a year, since 12 March 2020. It has been extended a 20th time to expire on November 30.

Since the easing of restrictive measures against Covid-19 in July for the extensive government holidays, after Maldives was faced by a fourth and more infectious coronavirus wave in early May, citizens especially across the Greater Malé Region have been easing their way back to life in normalcy. 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 country has been free from further restrictions for nearly four months 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. As such HPA continues to practice caution as the pandemic is far from being controlled, despite declining numbers in recent months.

The public health authority responded to an alarming surge in cases following new years and in early May after the eases were given for the local elections in April. The month that followed saw cases rising to distressing levels, at 1,000 almost every day. With the implementation of stricter measures, cases began declining around July.

With doubled eases, those who have completed both doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been allowed to travel domestically without the need to quarantine, with a negative PCR test result.

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.