COVID-19: HPA confirms 54 additional cases, 67 recoveries

The Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Thursday, confirmed an additional 54 cases of COVID-19 and 67 recoveries in Maldives.

According to the agency, the new cases include 30 locals and 24 foreigners.

HPA revealed that 50 of the infections were reported in the Greater Male' Region, while the remaining four cases were detected outside of the capital area.

In addition to the Greater Male' Region, active virus cases are currently present in 21 inhabited islands as well as 26 resorts across the archipelago.

With these developments, Maldives currently records a total of 9,939 virus cases of which 1,301 are active cases, in addition to 8,597 recoveries and 34 deaths.

During 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.

Authorities have stated 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 most part of September.

Within this same period, the number of recoveries saw a significant increase, bringing the number of recovered cases to 86.4 percent.

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.

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 32.2 million people and claimed over 983,767 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 23.7 million people have recovered.