Nearly 200 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized currently, as infections continue to spike in the Maldives.

137 new cases were reported on Friday, out of the 2,982 samples tested within 24 hours. A majority of the cases, 110, are from the country’s Covid-19 epicenter, capital Male’ area, while 20 of the cases reported on Friday are from residential islands and seven from resorts in operation.

This pushes the country’s Covid-19 total to 16,547 while active cases have spiked to 2,014, out of which 193 were being treated at hospitals by 6pm on Friday; 15 more than the previous day.

Further, with an additional 53 recoveries recorded, a total of 14,472 patients have recovered from the virus in the island nation. Health authorities have confirmed 54 deaths to Covid-19, with two reported this month alone.

While a majority of the cases are still being detected from the capital region, authorities have imposed a curfew and a vehicle movement restriction in the city for a period of two weeks. Further, a mask madate has been imposed in all islands across the Maldives. These measures are to be revised after the two-week period, depending on their effectiveness in controlling the spread of the virus.

The measures have been reinforced as they are to have yielded positive results in controlling the virus before. While both measures mentioned were implemented last year, authorities lifted the previous night-time curfew in December 2020 while the restriction on vehicles was dissolved in October.

The restrictions were lifted following a decline in cases from September, however, after months of declining case numbers, the country reported a jump in coronavirus infections on January 24.

The capital was placed under lockdown last April, following the confirmation of a Covid-19 community spread in the congested city. Lockdown easing began in late-May, however, the state of public health emergency announced on 12 March 2020 still remains following multiple extensions; the last extension will expire on March 5.

Health authorities continue to call on the public to be more careful in following Covid-19 health and safety protocols, stressing the country's already fragile healthcare system could be overburdened if the spike in cases is not controlled.