Covid-19: over 150 samples taken from Himmafushi island

A total of 157 samples have been taken from Himmafushi island, for Covid-19 testing.

Three clients at the island’s Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre (DTRC) tested positive for the virus on Friday.

While there have been questions on how the virus originated inside the centre, Dr. Nazla Rafeeq at Saturday night’s Covid-19 press briefing revealed the latest in the case.

Noting that eleven clients had checked in at (DTRC) in April, the doctor said that the last clients -four- had checked in on April 13.

Two of them have since checked out, but one of these clients is among those that tested positive from the drug rehabilitation facility.

Contact tracing have been conducted in relation to the positive cases from the centre, including of the clients that checked in there recently. As such, samples were taken from the areas in which they had visited prior to going to the centre.

Dr. Nazla said that a positive case was identified from one of the houses that the fourth client had visited, and that this is could be where the virus originated from but stressed that this is not clear yet.

Further noting that officials at the facility had informed authorities that the place has been on lockdown since April 22, the doctor said that they have learnt that some of the staff had left there without the knowledge of their seniors.

While the clients at the Himmafushi rehab tested positive on Friday, Dr. Nazla said that they were unable to send a rapid response team to the island that day due to weather conditions but that a team went there on Saturday.

This team is to have taken a total of 157 samples for testing; 37 each from DTRC and the Himmafushi Asseyri Prison, 45 from the industrial zone and 38 other random samples from the island.

She also revealed that tests are being conducted at other such facilities, including the Home for People with Special Needs in Guraidhoo island.