Maldives reported 169 new cases of the global Covid-19 pandemic alongside 86 recoveries by sundown on Friday.

According to latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), the new infections were confirmed through 3.044 samples collected between 6pm Thursday and 6pm Friday.

67 out of the 169 new cases reported in the Maldives were from the Greater Malé Region. It has been over a week since public health authorities have been detecting lower than 100 daily cases from the capital region. 65 of the remaining cases were reported in residential islands and 29 infections were also detected from operational resorts.

Eight new infections were also discovered from industrial islands.

With this development, Maldives Covid-19 tally has been pushed to 24,548.

With the 86 additional recoveries reported by Friday’s end, the country has observed a total of 21,368 recoveries from the infection since it surfaced in the island nation during March 2020.

Maldives active coronavirus infections rose to 3,104 from 3,022 within the past 24 hours, with 89 patients currently remaining hospitalized for treatment. This is 12 patients less than the previous day.

HPA earlier revealed that hospital admissions are currently lower than they were in mid-February, however, they are still higher in comparison to the hospital admissions recorded at the beginning of the ongoing year.

Maldives Covid-19 mortality rate is currently at 0.29 percent, with the pandemic having claimed 67 lives thus far, the latest fatality having been reported on March 31 when a 66-year-old man, who was rushed to the Emergency Room of Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in an unresponsive state, was pronounced dead within minutes.

For over a month, infections have been snowballing and HPA has been raising concern over the mounting caseload, however, the authorities remain resolute to avoid imposing a second lockdown across the capital region and has even eased restrictions in the area.

Authorities reintroduced a curfew in the Greater Malé Region on February 12, in light of the spike in daily infections being reported. The nearly six-hour curfew was followed by restrictions on vehicle movement from 6pm to 6am for Greater Malé residents. The health authority lifted the restrictions on vehicle movement in the capital city, at a time the Director-General of Public Health Maimoona Aboobakuru had hinted that restrictions could be eased in time for the fasting month of Ramadan. The Covid-19 epicenter Malé City was in a state of lockdown during the fasting month last year which was met with public concerns in lieu of difficulties to obtain essentials. The curfew was also dissolved, recently.

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