No coronavirus cases in Maldives yet: HPA

Health Protection Agency (HPA) has revealed that there have not been any positive cases for coronavirus in the Maldives thus far.

HPA made the reveal via Twitter, stating that screening process is proceedings at ports in the capital city.

Symptoms of the virus include fever, coughing and breathing difficulties and as it is a relatively new disease, most people have not been vaccinated for it thus far, revealed HPA.

The Ministry of Health and relevant authorities began taking adequate measures in order to curb an outbreak of the virus in Maldives, which is expected following the high tourist arrivals from China, which saw an outbreak after an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province.

As such, the ministry began operating a thermal camera to screen tourists arriving through Velana International Airport (VIA) last Wednesday.

This will help authorities isolate and run further tests on those with a high temperature.

The ministry has since given its 100 percent that all the required measures will be taken to prevent the disease from surfacing.

HPA revealed that a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan was linked to a novel coronavirus, which consecutively resulted in over 850 cases and over 50 fatalities since the epidemic began.

The likelihood of infection is through processed food from food handlers and market workers, with reports having attributed the outbreak to the country’s seafood and animal markets. While preparations are underway on the recommendations from World Health Organization (WHO), Maldivians travelling to China are advised to take precautionary measures like avoiding animals, dead or alive, animal markets and even coming in contact with infected people.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that thus far, the disease has surfaced in Japan, Thailand, South Korea, America, France, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia and India.