Covid-19: Infections spike in Male', 184 new cases and 192 recoveries reported Thursday
Health Minister Naseem has described the state of Covid-19 in Male' as dangerous and out of control
Cafe's and restaurants in the Male' area are to close dine-in services at 8pm for a period of seven days beginning 27 Feb
Thursday saw 184 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Maldives, with 145 of those cases corresponding to patients in Male' City as an additional 192 persons recover from the infection acorss the island nation.
145 of Thursday's 184 new cases were reported from the nation's congested capital of Male', in addition to 10 new cases from inhabited islands, 24 new cases from operational resorts and five more cases from industrial islands.
The 184 new cases, confirmed from 3,993 samples tested by authorities on Thursday, push the nation's total Covid-19 tally up to 19,346. As of now, there are 2,441 active cases of the infection in the Maldives, of which 162 are patients who remain admitted in-hospital for care for the infection. Of hose hospitalized due to Covid-19, four persons are in ICU, and one person has been placed on a ventilator.
60 fatalities have been attributed to Covid-19 and related health complications in the Maldives thus far.
A further 192 recoveries from the infection were reported between 6pm Wednesday and 6pm Thursday, with which a total of 16,838 recoveries have been observed from the infection since the beginning of the pandemic.
Health Minister Ahmed Naseem, in a discussion held at parliament on Thursday, has described the Covid-19 situation in Male' City as "out of control" and "dangerous". Despite this, Minister Naseem revealed authorities were working towards reducing the capital's caseload without initiating an economically restrictive full-lockdown in the city.
The concerning spike in cases from Male' comes at a time authorities have been conducting mass inspections a locations providing services to the public, and have been issuing notices to those parties who fail to comply with new normal health and safety regulations in their operations.
On Thursday evening, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) gazetted an order, effective from 27 February, which requires all cafe's and restaurants in the Greater Male' area to close dine-in services at 8pm, with delivery and takeaway services permitted to proceed until 1030pm in the city.
Authorities have been closely monitoring the state of Covid-19 across the islands of Maldives, and have been holding discussions in relation to what further steps can be taken in order to control the spread of the virus.
