Maldives reported 138 new infections of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on Wednesday.

According to latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), 138 new Covid-19 infections were confirmed nationwide by sundown on Wednesday.

The public health authority tested 4,034 samples for the coronavirus pandemic between 6pm Tuesday and 6pm Wednesday.

84 out of the 138 new cases reported in the Maldives were from the Greater Malé Region. It has been two weeks since public health authorities have been detecting lower than 100 daily cases from the capital region. 44 of the remaining cases were reported in residential islands and six infections were also detected from operational resorts.

Four additional coronavirus infections were detected from industrial islands by sundown on Wednesday.

This has pushed the Maldives Covid-19 case tally to 25,191.

With 116 additional recoveries reported over the past 24 hours, a total of 22,014 coronavirus-stricken patients have observed full recoveries from the infection since it surfaced during March 2020.

Further, active cases have also been dropping despite the daily infections still being above 100 across the nation. The active cases rose to 3,101 from 3,079 by Wednesday’s end according to the HPA statistics.

Over the past 24 hours, a total of 15 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized for treatment with which the number of hospital admissions has risen to 88.

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.

Authorities reintroduced a curfew in the Greater Malé Region on February 12, in light of the spike in daily infections being reported since January 24. 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 curfew was also dissolved, recently.

On Monday HPA extended the state of public health emergency effective in Maldives from 12 March 2020 by another month, making this the 13th extension. Maldives has been in a state of public health emergency for over a year and the last extension is set to expire on May 4.

Despite the eases stemming from a gradual decrease in Covid-19 cases being reported, authorities continue to urge the public to strictly adhere to the precautionary measures and guidelines in place such as maintaining a safe distance, avoiding social gatherings, maintaining hygiene and following the face mask mandate. This is especially important now as the country heads towards the Local Council and Women's Development Committee elections slated for Saturday.