Covid-19: Maldives reports 17 new cases, additional death

Maldives reported just 17 new coronavirus infections on Monday, while an additional death was reported Tuesday morning.

While the 17 cases are from the 1,499 samples tested within 24 hours, 15 were detected from capital Male’ region with one each from an outlying island and operational resort.

This pushes the country's Covid-19 case count to 13,011.

Also, an additional coronavirus-related death was reported on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 47; a 75-year-old local man passed away early morning while receiving treatment at the Hulhumalé Medical Facility.

Further, 37 recoveries were reported on Monday bringing total recoveries to 11,939.

There are currently 1,018 active Covid-19 cases in the island nation. 771 of the cases are in the Male’ area, while 22 are in outlying atolls, 73 in tourist establishments, 151 in islands under development and one case in an industrial island.

Out of the 13,011 cases confirmed since March, 62.78 percent are locals.

With the start of the third phase of lockdown easing on July 1, there was a surge in Covid-19 infections with over 100 new cases reported almost daily. However, the country saw a gradual decline in cases starting September. While there was a slight rise in daily cases last week, the country reported the lowest daily increase in months, on Saturday.