COVID-19: Maldives records 13th dealth by virus

Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Wednesday confirmed the thirteenth COVID-19 related fatality in Maldives.

As per the agency, the deceased was a 70-year-old local woman, who was taken to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) at1300 hours on Wednesday afternoon. She was declared deceased upon arrival and tested positive for the virus.

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 man.

This was soon followed by the eleventh and twelfth deaths, a 77-year-old local woman and an 80-year old local man.

Maldives presently has a total of 2,502 confirmed and 389 active cases of COVID-19. Thus far, the country records 2,158 recoveries and 13 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 12 million people and claimed over 548,207 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 6.9 million people have recovered.