COVID-19: HPA confirms 12th death in Maldives

Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed, early Monday, the 12th COVID-19-related fatality in Maldives.

The agency revealed that the deceased was a local man, aged 80, who was receiving treatment at the DH11 facility in state-run Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

The first virus-related death in Maldives was that of an 83-year-old local female, on April 29. The second death involved the passing of a 33-year-old male Bangladeshi national, while the third and fourth fatalities concerned local males aged 80 and 88 respectively.

The fifth and sixth were also Bangladeshi males, aged 46 and 54. While the seventh death was an 89-year-old local woman, the eighth fatality was a 38-year-old Bangladeshi national. The ninth death was of a Filipino male aged 43, and the tenth, in the beginning of this month, was a 92-year-old Maldivian.

An 11th death was recorded recently, on Sunday, when a 77-year-old Maldivian woman passed after while undergoing treatment during the early hours of Sunday.

With these developments, Maldives presently has a total of 2,468 confirmed and 403 active cases of COVID-19. Thus far, the country records 2,049 recoveries and 12 deaths.

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

The state has eased several restrictions that were implemented to contain the spread of the virus when community spread was confirmed in the Greater Male' region.

Maldives is currently in the third phase of easing lockdown measures in transitioning to the 'new normal' and resuming daily life with precautionary measures.

However, daily virus cases are still identified in the capital, thus community spread has not entirely ceased in the country, as the number of recoveries continue to rise, with 83 percent of patients now recovered.

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 11.5 million people and claimed over 536,786 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 6.5 million people have recovered.