COVID-19: HPA confirms 83 more cases, 116 recoveries in Maldives

The Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Monday, confirmed 83 new cases of COVID-19 in Maldives, as well as 116 recoveries.

The new cases include 61 Maldivians and 20 Bangladeshi nationals, one Indian and one Nepalese citizen.

According to the agency, 82 of the additional positive cases were reported in the Greater Male' Region, while the remaining case was detected from an island outside of the capital area.

peaking at the press conference held by the Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC), the centres Spokesperson and HPA's medical officer Dr Nazla Rafeeq stated that Monday marks the end of six months since the first COVID-19 case was recorded in Maldives.

Within the span of these six months, the island nation recorded a total of 8,667 virus cases of which 2,580 are active case, in addition to 6,052 recoveries and 29 deaths.

In addition to the Greater Male' region, active virus cases are currently present in 35 inhabited islands as well as 22 resorts across the archipelago.

During the last month, authorities tightened the safety measures implemented in the Greater Male' region, following an alarming upsurge of COVID-19 cases after the state initiated efforts to steer the country towards a 'new normal' with the phased easing of lockdown restrictions.

Dr Nazla revealed that the effects of implementing stricter measures will be reflected in the case numbers towards the end of the month.

After a long period of recording over 100 daily cases, the numbers have slipped down to two-digits during the past two days.

As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Maldives' capital Malé continues to record a massive chunk of the positive cases.

HPA's Medical Officer Dr Nazla Rafeeq recently revealed that the country is heading towards reaching maximum bed capacity, repeatedly advising the public to adhere to HPA's safety guidelines.

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 27.4 million people and claimed over 894,710 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 19.4 million people have recovered.