COVID-19: Maldives records 42nd death

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Saturday, confirmed the 42nd COVID-19 related death in Maldives.

The deceased was an 57-year-old Maldivian male, admitted at Hulhumalé Medical Facility (HMF)’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He passed away at 1424 hours.

Authorities did not reveal further information about the deceased individual.

He marks the 35th local to have succumbed to the virus in Maldives. The remaining fatalities consist of seven expatriates, including six Bangladeshi nationals and one Filipino citizen.

With this development, the island nation currently records a total of 12,112 virus cases of which 820 are active cases, in addition to 11,244 recoveries and 42 deaths.

During August, authorities tightened the safety measures implemented in the Greater Male' region, following an alarming upsurge of COVID-19 cases after the state initiated efforts to steer the country towards a 'new normal' with the phased easing of lockdown restrictions.

After a long period of recording over 100 daily cases, the numbers fell to two-digits during the most part of September. Throughout October the numbers had slipped further down below 50, with a few spikes on rare occasions.

Within this same period, the number of recoveries saw a significant increase, bringing the number of recovered cases to over 92 percent.

Despite the sustained decrease in virus cases, HPA has renewed calls for citizens to adhere to protective measures to contain the spread of the virus, cautioning against a public sentiment that the outbreak has been “controlled”.

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 53.8 million people and claimed over 1.2 million lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 37.5 million people have recovered.