153 new infections of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have brought the Maldives Covid-19 total case count to 21,819.

According to latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), a total of 153 new coronavirus infections were confirmed by sundown on Tuesday, out of which 132 were detected in the Greater Malé Region, whereas 13 were discovered from residential islands and two from operational resorts. Further, health authorities detected three new cases from liveaboard vessels and three from islands under development as well.

This comes after three days since daily infections had been reported lower than 100 cases. Maldives has observed daily infection to be over 100 for months now. However, for the past three days, daily cases had been below 100.

The new cases were confirmed out of the 4,553 samples collected for testing from 6pm Monday to 6pm Tuesday.

Further, HPA reported 97 recoveries from the virus on Tuesday, which means that a total of 19,342 patients have recovered from the virus in the island nation since the pandemic surfaced in the country over a year ago on March 7.

Maldives active coronavirus infections rose to 2,406 from 2,350 by sundown on Tuesday, out of which 126 patients remain hospitalized for treatment, which is one patient less than the previous day.

The pandemic has claimed 64 lives in the Maldives thus far.

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, as the country goes through a devastating third peak of the pandemic. For over a month, infections have been snowballing and public health authorities have been raising concern over the mounting caseload, however, the authorities remain resolute to avoid imposing a second lockdown across the capital region.

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.

The country remains in a state of public health emergency since 12 March 2020, the last extension was a week before and is set to expire on April 4.

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.