Foreigner tested positive six days after leaving Maldives

Authorities did not reveal much about the foreigner that tested positive for coronavirus after leaving the Maldives, except their travel dates.

Health Protection Agency (HPA) had revealed that two islands -Joali Maldives and Raa Bodufushi- were place under monitoring on Tuesday as a foreigner that visited these places had tested positive for Covid-19 after returning home; Joali Maldives is a resort and Bodufushi is leased for resort development, both are run under the same management.

Speaking at the press conference held on Tuesday night, the government’s Covid-19 spokesperson Mohamed Mabrook Aziz revealed that this individual left the Maldives on March 31 and tested positive on April 6.

When inquired on the person’s nationality, Mabrook said that they have “a stance” in releasing such details which he said, does not allow him to disclose details regarding a single case. He emphasized that this was evident in the manner in which they had disclosed the nationalities of Covid-19 positive patients.

While the person tested positive six days after leaving the Maldives, Mabrook said that they cannot clearly say that the individual had contracted the virus in the Maldives or otherwise.

He said this while responding to a question, with HPA's epidemoligist, Dr. Ibrahim Afzal adding that there is chance that the person contracted the virus after arriving in home country or during transit at airport.

However, the doctor noted that this does not mean that they are eliminating the possibility of the individual contracting the virus in Maldives and stressed that this is why contact tracing is being carried out on the islands.

Out of the 19 confirmed cases in the Maldives, 15 are foreigners. They are; 11 Italians, and one each from Germany, United Kingdom, South Africa and Turkey. Two of them are not being treated in the Maldives, as their test results came back after they left the country. The remaining 13 have recovered, and two have even returned home to Italy.

While the first two cases were reported from Kuredu Island Resort, the resort remains under lockdown. Mabrook on Tuesday said that the reason for this is because the island was placed under monitoring for 28 days, as there was human-to-human transmission recorded there.