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COVID-19: All but 1 missing person found

Fathmath Shaahunaz
20 May 2020, MVT 14:01
Communications Undersecretary of the President's Office Mabrouq Abdul Azeez speaks at NEOC press conference about the COVID-19 situation in Maldives. PHOTO/NEOC
Fathmath Shaahunaz
20 May 2020, MVT 14:01

National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) revealed late Tuesday that all but one individual, who fled after testing positive for COVID-19, have been found.

Speaking at the daily virtual press conference by NEOC, Communications Undersecretary of the President's Office Mabrouq Abdul Azeez disclosed that the latest individual found by the authorities is an expatriate worker, who is assigned case number MAV0594.

He confirmed that two individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 from the Vilimale Detention Block last Monday, assigned case numbers MAV1062 and MAV1063, had been in contact with MAV0594.

Mabrouq added that with this development, authorities have found all but one of the seven persons that went on the run after testing positive for the virus.

NEOC first announced the missing persons case last Wednesday. At the time, Mabrouq had warned that if the police were unable to find the individuals, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) will publicise their personal information under the powers accorded to Director General of Public Health Maimoona Aboobakuru, as per the Public Health Act.

Maldives present records 1,143 confirmed and 1,053 active cases, with 86 recoveries and four fatalities. The capital city of Maldives, Male', one of the most densely populated cities in the world has recorded a significant increase in COVID-19 since recording its first local transmission of the virus on April 15.

The COVID-19 outbreak in the capital has disproportionately affected the expatriate population, the majority of whom are Bangladeshi nationals living in highly congested quarters where it is impossible to reduce contact or exercise social distancing. Their often small-spaced living conditions have been described by local and international civil society organizations as, "claustrophobic", "unsanitary" and "overcrowded".

The World Health Organisation has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 4.9 million people and claimed over 323,220 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, 1.9 million people have recovered.

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