16 locals among 26 new Covid-19 cases reported on Sunday

Maldives reported 26 new coronavirus infections on Sunday as well as an additional 22 recoveries.

While the cases were confirmed from over 2,700 samples tested within 24 hours, 22 are from the greater Male’ area while three are from resorts and one from an operation resort.

They include 16 locals including three under the age of 10, five Bangladeshi nationals as well as one each from United Kingdom, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and Russia.

While this pushes the Covid-19 tally to 13,644, with the 22 new recoveries reported on Sunday, Maldives has seen a total of 13,072 recoveries thus far. The recovery rate is 95.81 percent. There have been 48 deaths, with a mortality rate of 0.35 percent.

There are 517 active coronavirus cases in the island nation currently, with most still in the greater Male’ area. As such, 380 of the active cases are in the region while 37 are in inhabited islands, 72 in tourist establishments, 25 in islands under development as well as three active cases in industrial islands as well.

33 out of the 517 patients are receiving treatment at hospitals.

Out of the total coronavirus infections confirmed in the archipelago nation since March, 63.01 percent are locals.

While Maldives' first Covid-19 cases were confirmed from resorts in March, a community transmission was detected 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. Lockdown easing began in late-May.

Authorities have been gradually lifting Covid-19 safety restrictions following the decline in daily cases since September, especially in the capital. As such, while locals and work visa holders that return to the country are not required to quarantine from December 20, if traveling to the capital, those traveling to other areas still have to undergo a 10-day quarantine period. Further, the curfew in effect in the capital since August was lifted last week as well.