COVID-19: HPA announces 133 new cases, 75 recoveries in Maldives

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Monday announced that 133 more individuals tested positive for COVID-19 in Maldives, while 75 recovered from the disease.

The new cases include 103 Maldivians, 15 Bangladeshis, eight Indians, two Brits, two Emiratis, two Sri Lankans and one Nepali citizen.

According to the agency, 121 of the newly positive cases were reported in the Greater Male' Region, while the remaining 12 were detected from islands outside of the capital area.

Earlier the same day, HPA confirmed the 27th virus-related fatality in the country, with the passing of a 79-year-old local male.

With these developments, the island nation now records total 6,912 confirmed and 2,588 active COVID-19 cases, along with 4,297 recoveries and 27 deaths.

In addition to the Greater Male' region, active virus cases are present in 22 inhabited islands throughout 11 atolls in the archipelago.

Furthermore, HPA noted that active cases are present in 12 resorts across the archipelago.

After recording significantly low numbers in the months of May and June, the island nation recorded a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases per capita, indicating an alarming community spread in the country.

With the increasing number of infections, the number of recoveries has also risen in the past couple of weeks, after the recent spike reduced the total amount of recovered patients from the peak 86 to the lowest 53 percent. This value currently stands at 62 percent.

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

Noting the economic repercussions of implementing lockdown measures again, authorities have continually requested the public to adhere to HPA's safety guidelines to reduce the spread of the virus as life continues in the 'new normal'.

However, authorities have stressed that re-implementing lockdown measures will be necessary if infections continue to increase beyond the health sector's capacity to handle testing and treatment.

The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) also warned on August 23 that COVID-19 cases may have to be triaged in the near future if the situation in Maldives continued to worsen.

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 23.6 million people and claimed over 814,200 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 16.1 million people have recovered.