National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) disclosed late Tuesday that five of the 159 Maldivians recently evacuated from Bangalore and Cochin, India, were quarantined at state-run Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).
Speaking at the daily press conference regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Communications Undersecretary at the President's Office Mabrouq Abdul Azeez stated that the five individuals were kidney disease patients, and were hospitalised and quarantined in IGMH upon arrival.
According to Mabrouq, three of them required daily dialysis treatments. Two of the patients are also minors, and are accompanied by two guardians at the hospital.
"And so there are total nine individuals [in IGMH's quarantine area]", he said.
Under the ongoing state of public health emergency, the Maldivian government has mandated a 14-day quarantine period for all locals returning from abroad, in a move to curb and control the spread of COVID-19 in Maldives.
Authorities have also urged Maldivians residing overseas to not return if possible. In particular, those seeking medical treatment are urged to seek doctors' counsel prior to return.
Maldives now has 21 confirmed and five active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 16 recoveries. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 from the capital city of Male' was reported on Wednesday morning.
The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over two million people and claimed over 126,700 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 484,800 people have recovered.
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