A new record has been established for daily vaccinations under the national Covid-19 vaccination programme, with a total of 7,818 people vaccinated on Thursday as authorities pause vaccination efforts for the first time in 18 days.

According to the most recent vaccination update by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), 7,818 people received their first doses of the Covishield vaccine on Thursday, bringing the total number of those vaccinated against Covid-19 in the Maldives over the last 18 days up to 64,048. 5,998 vaccinations were conducted in nine vaccination centers in the Greater Male' Area on Thursday.

With this, a total of 49,836 people have been vaccinated from the nation's capital since the beginning of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination programme. An additional 1,820 vaccinations were conducted in 69 vaccination centers across atolls on Thursday, bringing the total number of those vaccinated across atolls up to 14,212.

Health authorities announced on Thursday night that vaccination efforts would be discontinued on Friday. This is the first time vaccinations have been paused in the 18 days since the launching of the national Covid-19 vaccination programme. Vaccinations are set to resume from Saturday through to Thursday, with those over the age of 35 now able to vaccinate from the Greater Male' Area.

On Wednesday, the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) confirmed in a press conference that, in light of the latest research findings from the World Health Organization (WHO), in addition to recommendations from the Maldives Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, the second dose of the Covishield vaccine will be administered to persons eight weeks after they received the initial dose.