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COVID-19: Positive cases exceed 8,000

Mariyam Malsa
01 September 2020, MVT 22:42
During the drill exercise held to launch the national ambulance services in Maldives amid the COVID-19 pandemic. PHOTO: NISHAN ALI / MIHAARU
Mariyam Malsa
01 September 2020, MVT 22:42

The Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Monday, confirmed an additional 199 cases of COVID-19 in Maldives, bringing the total to 8,003.

HPA also reported that an additional 110 individuals had recovered from the virus on Tuesday.

The new cases include 145 Maldivians, 42 Bangladeshis, five Indians, three Sri Lankans, two American citizens, one Chinese citizen and Japanese citizen.

According to the agency, 168 of the newly positive cases were reported in the Greater Male' Region, while the remaining 31 cases were detected from islands outside of the capital area.

With these developments, the island nation now records total 8,003 confirmed and 2,703 active COVID-19 cases, along with 5,265 recoveries and 29 deaths.

In addition to the Greater Male' region, active virus cases are present in 41 inhabited islands as well as 16 resorts across the archipelago.

After recording significantly low numbers in the months of May and June, the island nation recorded a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases per capita, indicating an alarming community spread in the country.

With the increasing number of infections, the number of recoveries has also risen in the past couple of weeks, after the recent spike reduced the total amount of recovered patients from the peak 86 to the lowest 53 percent. This value currently stands at 66 percent.

The number of COVID-19 cases skyrocketed after the state initiated efforts to steer the country towards a 'new normal' with the phased easing of lockdown restrictions across the Greater Male' Region.

As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Maldives' capital Malé continues to record a significant number of COVID-19 cases, similar to the first weeks following the first confirmed local transmission on April 15.

On March 12, WHO classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. To date, the new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 25.7 million people and claimed over 856,800 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 18 million people have recovered.

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