Covid-19: Maldives reports 37 new cases, 45 recoveries

Maldives Covid-19 case count has reached 13,143 with 37 new cases reported on Friday.

While the cases were from the 1,753 samples tested within 24 hours, 30 of the cases were confirmed from capital Male’ region, three from a liveaboard vessel and two each from outlying atolls and operations resorts.

With 45 new recoveries reported on Friday, a total of 12,199 patients have recovered thus far. There have been 47 deaths from the virus.

There are currently 890 active Covid-19 cases in the country; 708 are in the Male’ region, 27 in outlying islands, 58 in tourist establishments, 96 in islands under development and one in an industrial island.

78 patients are receiving treatment at hospitals, eight less than the previous day.

Among the 13,143 coronavirus cases confirmed since March 7, 62.85 percent are locals. 24.8 percent of the cases are Bangladeshi nationals; the largest migrant worker group in the country.

While Maldives' first Covid-19 cases were confirmed from a resort in March, a community transmission was confirmed on April 15. This led to a complete lockdown in the capital, as well as a partial lockdown across the country with travel between islands banned.

The travel ban was part of the efforts to ensure the virus does not spread among island communities, and while there is a quarantine period for those traveling to the islands from the capital, a resort or an island with operational guesthouses, this was reduced to 10 days from Friday.