Covid-19: Maldives reports 126 new cases, additional death

Maldives’ Covid-19 tally has reached 16,909 with the 126 new cases reported on Monday.

While the cases were confirmed from 3,944 samples tested within 24 hours, 98 were detected from the Male’ region while 19 were from residential islands and nine from non-operational resorts.

A total of 14,772 patients have recovered in the island nation. There are currently 2,075 active cases across the country. 204 patients are currently receiving in-hospital treatment.

Also, an additional coronavirus-related death has been reported, bringing the death toll to 56; a 77-year-old local man passed away on Tuesday morning while receiving treatment at the Gaafu Alif atoll Covid-19 management facility in Villingilli island. This is the fourth Covid-19 related death reported in February alone.

Gaafu Alif Villingilli Hospital Manager Shareef Ahmed identified the deceased as Thu’thu Ibrahim from GA. Dhevvadhoo island. Noting that he was transferred to the facility on January 13 after complications, Shareef said Ibrahim was placed on a ventilator on the 26th of last month.

Shareef said Ibrahim was bedridden 15 years ago, after suffering a stroke.

While a majority of the cases are still being detected from the capital region, authorities last week imposed a curfew and a vehicle movement restriction in the city for a period of two weeks. Further, a mask mandate 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 since January 24.

Health authorities have raised concern over the increase in coronavirus infections, calling on all to strictly adhere to safety measures, given the country’s weak healthcare system.