COVID-19: HPA confirms additional 39 cases, 12 recoveries

Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed on Sunday that 39 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 in Maldives, while a further 12 patients were confirmed to have recovered.

According to the agency, the newly identified cases include 27 Maldivians and 12 foreigners, of which 7 are of Bangladeshi nationality while the remaining 5 are Indian citizens.

Early evening, HPA announced Maldives' 14th COVID-19 related death, a 79-year-old local woman, who was admitted at Hulhumale' Medical Faculty.

The first virus-related death in the country was that of an 83-year-old local female, on April 29. The 13th fatality was a 70-year-old Maldivian woman, who passed away last week.

With these developments, Maldives presently has a total of 2,801 confirmed and 470 active cases of COVID-19. Thus far, the country records 2,302 recoveries and 14 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.

After recording low numbers for several weeks, the recent spike of virus cases has reduced the total amount of recovered patients from 86 to 82 percent.

The number of COVID-19 cases increased after the state initiated efforts to steer the country towards a 'new normal' with the phased easing of lockdown restrictions across the Greater Male' Region. Government offices and businesses including shops, cafe's and restaurants restarted services on July 1 while authorities are prepared to reopen Maldives' borders for tourism on July 15.

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 13.3 million people and claimed over 577,799 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 7.78 million people have recovered.