Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) on Saturday, revealed that an Emergency Support Group officer stationed at Male' Prison had tested positive for COVID-19.
According to a tweet released by MCS, the employee had tested positive on June 19, Saturday.
Speaking at the daily press conference held Saturday, President's Office's Communications Undersecretary Mabrouq Abdul Azeez, noted that the individual was placed under home quarantine on June 18, after identification as a contact of a person who tested positive during random sampling in Male'.
Authorities are currently conducting contact tracing efforts with the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to test relevant individuals including inmates and staff for the virus.
No further details were shared by Correctional Services.
The HPA-led random sample collections to identify the spread of COVID-19 within Maafushi Prison all tested negative.
Maldives presently records a total of 2,187 confirmed cases, out of which 389 are active cases of COVID-19. The country records 1,788 recoveries and eight fatalities so far.
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.
However, the number of recoveries have continued to rise, with roughly 82 percent of patients now recovered.
WHO has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 8.9 million people and claimed over 466,848 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, 4.7 million people have recovered.
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