A total of 22 households across the country have been placed under monitoring, due to contact with Covid-19 patient 21- the first confirmed patient from the capital.

While authorities previously revealed that 11 houses were under monitoring following contact tracing procedures of patient 21, a new list of 22 households was publicized via Twitter at around 7:20pm.

These include 18 households in the capital including its suburban district Hulhumalé as well as ones in southernmost Addu City, Kaashidhoo, Vashafaru and Madifushi islands. The households are;

Patient 21 was discovered on Wednesday. The woman tested positive after presenting herself to the flu clinic established in the capital, after showing Covid-19 like symptoms, despite no travel history. Her child, a toddler, was also tested following symptoms. The child, along with another direct contact of hers, tested positive as well.

242 contacts of these three patients are being tested currently, 207 of them are contacts of Patients 21 and 22 (mother and child) while the remaining had come into contact with Patient 23. 82 of them are high-risk contacts, while 71 are medium-risk and 83 are low-risk contacts.

These three cases were confirmed within 24 hours, and raises the total number of cases in the country to 23. Eight out of the cases are locals, while remaining are foreigners. 16 patients have recovered.

The discovery of the first case from the capital led to a city wide 24-hour lockdown, which has since been extended by another 24 hours.