Maldives reports 125 new Covid-19 cases, 129 recoveries
64 deaths attributed to the infection confirmed in the country thus far
Healthcare workers collecting samples for Covid-19 testing from the capital city
103 out of the 125 new coronavirus infections reported in the Maldives on Monday, were from the Greater Malé Region.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed that 13 of the new infections were detected in operational resorts across the nation whereas the remaining nine were reported from residential islands.
The new cases were confirmed out of the 3,644 samples collected for testing from 6pm Sunday to 6pm Monday.
This pushes the country’s total coronavirus tally to 20,919, with 2,595 active infections nationwide.
Further, HPA reported 129 recoveries from the virus on Sunday, which means that a total of 18,253 patients have recovered from the pandemic in the island nation thus far.
Out of the over 2,500 active cases, 179 patients remain hospitalized for treatment.
On Thursday, public health authorities reported the 64th death from Covid-19, confirming the passing of a 78-year-old local man, being treated for the infection on the 11th floor of Dharumavantha Hospital.
With this being said, public health authorities recently extended and implemented stricter measures across the nation, in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the region, at a time daily infections have been snowballing and public health authorities have been raising concern over the mounting caseload.
Under new measures, Malé City residents are now required to provide negative PCR results with a sample taken 72 hours prior to traveling to island, with special permission for essential travel.
Authorities reintroduced a curfew in the Greater Malé Region on February 12, in light of the spike in daily infections being reported for the past couple of weeks. The nearly six-hour curfew was followed by restrictions on vehicle movement from 6pm to 6am for Greater Malé residents.
On Thursday, Maldives also extended the state of public health emergency for another month.
HPA statistics also show that the flu positivity rate has gone down despite the increase in cases, especially from the capital region, which means that fewer people are attending flu clinics despite presenting symptoms of Covid-19. Health authorities have warned that they may have to begin "choosing" Covid-19 patients for treatment if the caseload continues to increase, and have requested public support in controlling the spread of the virus to prevent further fatalities.
