The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has declared an increase in respiratory infections, also highlighting that its routine tests have recently resulted in H1N1 positive cases. 

In an urgent notice on Monday, the HPA – charged under the Ministry of Health to function as the administrative custodian of public health – said it was working with health facilities and other relevant authorities to control the general spread of all respiratory infections. 

The HPA’s statement expressly makes it a point to deter public anxiety over its reported increase in H1N1, stressing that it was not ‘similar to the 2009 swine flu pandemic’. 

It is unlikely that an individual can contract identical strains of the same virus twice, as HPA had cited for its primary reason for dismissing the need for public concern. 

Further, experts also believe that while the H1N1 virus has continued to circulate among people since 2009, it has usually manifested as a typical flu. 

The 2009 pandemic resulted in six local positive cases - four Maldivians and two foreign individuals – and the death of a 65-year-old man within 10 days. The six had recovered after treatment. 

The pandemic caused a health scare that had people proposing that all residents of Malé City wear surgical facemasks. 

This proposition was publicly deemed unnecessary by then Health Minister Ahmed Jamsheed, who oversaw public awareness campaigns, precautionary measures, and crucial amendments to the National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan, all in response to the 2009 pandemic.