COVID-19: HPA confirms 10 more cases, 7 recoveries in Maldives

Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed on Friday night that 10 more individuals tested positive for COVID-19 in Maldives, while seven patients recovered from the disease.

According to the agency, the new cases include four Maldivians, two Bangladeshis, three Indians, and one Indonesian.

Of the new cases, the Indonesian national was a cancer patient who passed away on Thursday.

The patient, aged 39, was tested for COVID-19 prior to a second surgery. He passed before HPA received his test results.

However, HPA stated that his primary cause of death was cancer complications, and that he had not exhibited COVID-19-like symptoms.

The agency asserted that his passing did not fall under the international criteria to determine COVID-19 fatalities.

HPA did not disclose further details on the newly confirmed cases.

With these developments, Maldives presently has a total of 2,410 confirmed and 419 active cases of COVID-19. Thus far, the country records 1,976 recoveries and 10 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.

However, the number of recoveries have continued to rise, with 82 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 million people and claimed over 526,200 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 6.2 million people have recovered.