The Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Saturday, announced that a further 35 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 while 24 persons were reported as recovered.

According to the agency, 34 of the cases were identified from the Greater Male' Region and the remaining case was found in an inhabited island.

Earlier in the day, HPA had announced that 35 individuals who attended a wedding ceremony held in Society for Health Education (SHE) building on December 20 had tested positive for the virus.

The agency requested all attendees to contact HPA and provide relevant information, and self-isolate in their homes as a precaution.

HPA further repeated the request for the public to adhere to the agency's safety guidelines in hosting gatherings, such as avoiding crowds if one is exhibiting symptoms, wearing face masks at all times, and maintaining social distancing during events.

At present, Maldives records a total of 13,618 virus cases of which 513 are active cases, in addition to 13,050 recoveries and 48 deaths.

During August, 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.

After a long period of recording over 100 daily cases, the numbers fell to two-digits during the most part of September. Throughout October the numbers had slipped further down below 50, with a few spikes on rare occasions, including the recent spikes as a result of four new virus clusters.

Within this same period, the number of recoveries saw a significant increase, bringing the number of recovered cases to over 94 percent.

HPA recently eased several safety measures imposed to control the spread of COVID-19. These leniencies include the cancellation of the city-wide curfew over the greater Male’ region, the reduction of quarantine periods to 10 days as well as cancelling mandatory quarantine for locals returning to Maldives and for locals travelling to resorts.

Despite the sustained decrease in virus cases, the agency has renewed calls for citizens to adhere to protective measures to contain the spread of the virus, cautioning against a public sentiment that the outbreak has been “controlled”.

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 80.4 million people and claimed over 1.7 million lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 56.6 million people have recovered.