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COVID-19: Monitoring status lifted from Hithadhoo

Mariyam Malsa
10 August 2020, MVT 22:08
An aerial photograph of an area in Hithadhoo.
Mariyam Malsa
10 August 2020, MVT 22:08

The Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Monday, lifted monitoring status from Hithadhoo in Addu City.

All movement into and out of Hithadhoo, the most populous region of Addu, was prohibited on Sunday after an expatriate on the island tested positive for COVID-19.

According to HPA, the foreign national that tested positive for COVID-19 was employed at a construction site at Addu High School. A police officer observing home quarantine after travelling to Hithadhoo from the capital city of Male' also tested positive for the virus on Saturday.

Addu Equatorial Hospital led efforts to conduct contact tracing concerning both of the aforementioned cases. An additional case of COVID-19 was reported from Hithadhoo on Sunday night.

A two-day closure for the seven schools operating in Hithadhoo was also announced on Sunday in connection with the situation.

In a notice, HPA stated that the restrictions were removed after looking further into the situation, and deeming there was no need to keep the island under monitoring.

Located in the southernmost atoll in the country, Hithadhoo hosts several key institutions, including a COVID-19 management centre, the Addu Equatorial Hospital and the offices of several independent institutions.

The first individual to test positive for COVID-19 in Addu was a 65-year-old woman under transit quarantine at the Equator Village Quarantine Facility in Gan.

Maldives now records total 5,041 confirmed and 2,218 active COVID-19 cases, along with 2,804 recoveries and 19 deaths.

Currently, the island nation records the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases confirmed per capita in the entire globe.

The number of COVID-19 cases skyrocketed 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.

The recent spike has reduced the total amount of recovered patients from the peak 86 to 55 percent.

As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Maldives' capital Malé continue to record a significant number of COVID-19 cases, similar to the first weeks following the first confirmed local transmission on April 15.

In addition to the Greater Male' region, active virus cases are also present in the local islands of Kelaa, Ihavandhoo and Filladhoo in Haa Alif Atoll, Naivaadhoo in Haa Dhaalu Atoll, Hulhudhuffaaru and Inguraidhoo in Raa Atoll, Kudarikilu and Kamadhoo in Baa Atoll, Hinnavaru of Lhaviyani Atoll, Maafushi of Kaafu Atoll, Fulidhoo of Vaavu Atoll, Fuvahmulah City and Hithadhoo of Addu City.

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 20 million people and claimed over 734,200 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 12.9 million people have recovered.

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