Samples for Covid-19 testing have been collected from 101 individuals in Malé Prison.

The Maldives Correctional Service revealed that the samples were collected after an Emergency Support Group (ESG) officer stationed at the facility tested positive for the virus, on Saturday.

The samples were collected by a team from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to find out whether anyone else has been exposed to the virus.

As such, a Tweet by the authority reveals that samples were taken from 70 officers and staff, 24 convicts and seven wait staff.

The officer was under quarantine when tested positive and is a contact of another patient, who tested positive during random sampling.

Since then, the authority has instigated emergency protocols. This is the first Covid-19 case to have surfaced from a prison facility.

Random testing for Covid-19 was carried out across prisons including Malé Prison as well as Hulhumalé Prison, Maafushi Prison and Asseyri Prison earlier in May and the tests all came back negative for the infection.

Maldives Covid-19 case count currently sits at 2,203 out of which 1,803 patients have recovered.