The Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) has revealed that they are looking into the case of the 13th Covid-19 related death in the Maldives.

The 13th death to Covid-19 was reported in the Maldives on Wednesday, when a 70-year-old Maldivian woman who was pronounced dead on arrival at Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), tested positive for the virus.

Speaking to press on Thursday night, the center’s spokesperson, Dr. Nazla Rafeeq revealed that a number of questions have been raised regarding the death case and how it happened.

In light of this, the HEOC and IGMH have jointly begun investigating the case.

Nazla revealed that the woman was brought to the hospital at around 1pm and was pronounced dead at 1:10pm.

Samples were collected for Covid-19 testing from the woman, at around 1:45pm and she was taken for burial at 1:50pm.

The test results were received around 3:30pm, said the doctor, who stressed that the patient had suffered from diabetes as well as lung diseases.

Thus far, 26 individuals have been taken into quarantine in connection to the 13th Covid-19 related death, most of whom are family members.

A total of three deaths were reported this week, the first one on Sunday where 77-year-old Maldivian woman passed away and the second one followed the very next day, when an 80-year-old man succumbed to the infection.

The country’s Covid-19 case count currently sits at 2,553, with 2,227 recoveries reported since the infection surfaced in the Maldives on March 7.