A local transmission of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has been confirmed in Hoandeddhoo island, Gaaf Dhaal atoll.

The island was placed under monitoring on Friday following the confirmation of coronavirus cases and public health officials had conducted contact tracing for the direct contacts of the two, unlinked, positive cases.

As such, out of the 36 samples collected from direct contacts, 19 had come back positive for the virus.

Out of the 19 new cases, 11 are men and eight are women and includes two toddlers aged below one year.

Further, there are eight patients aged between 1 – 18 years, seven aged between 18 – 50 years and two elderly patients above 50 years of age.

Highlighting that the relevant health authorities are responding to this currently, the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) revealed that this has not been established as a community transmission, yet.

Additional information regarding the local transmission in Hoandeddhoo island will be provided during the press conference scheduled for Saturday night.

Due to the current monitoring measures in place, entering and exiting the island is banned except for those approved by the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Islands are placed under monitoring to conduct the required work including contact tracing, to make sure there is no community spread, by the Director General of Public Health, Maimoona Aboobakuru.

HPA continues to urge citizens to cooperate in their efforts to curb the spread of the disease.

When the island went into monitoring, two cases had been confirmed from the four individuals who were under home quarantine as mandated after traveling from capital Malé City.

Those found in violation of quarantine orders will be fined up to MVR 5,000, authorities recently decided.