Authorities have begun conducting random sampling for Covid-19 testing at Maafushi Prison, as part of their efforts to identify and curb the spread of the pandemic.

Maldives Correctional Service revealed that the operation is being conducted in cooperation with the Covid-19 task force, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) and that samples will be collected from inmates as well as prison officials.

This comes at a time the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has begun a community spread surveillance to identify how much the virus has spread in the country. As such, the task force’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) had earlier revealed that the community spread was detected three weeks before the first case emerged in Maldives capital, Malé City.

In light of this, frontline workers have been active in collecting random samples from different regions of the capital city.

Random sampling was also conducted on individuals that visited the hospitals, regional hospitals and flu clinics.