Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Monday confirmed eight additional cases of COVID-19 in capital Male'.
According to HPA, the eight cases (MAV053, MAV054, MAV055, MAV056, MAV057, MAV058, MAV059 and MAV060) include six Maldivians and two Bangladeshi nationals.
During the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) press conference held Monday afternoon, HPA's Medical Officer Dr Nazla Rafeeq disclosed that MAV053 is a local employed at BHM Traders, MAV041 is a local working at Dhivehi Viuga, and MAV059 and MAV060 are two Bangladeshi nationals employed at Ihsaan Fihaara, a supermart chain in Male'.
MAV055, MAV056 and MAV057 are Maldivians who were already in isolation, as they were contacts of MAV029, MAV034 and MAV027 respectively. HPA added that MAV053 and MAV058 had both presented to flu clinics.
Although one of the individuals that tested positive on Monday is over 60 years of age, Dr Nazla assured that none of the confirmed cases in Maldives is serious.
Dr Nazla also declared that authorities will test all patients that present to flu clinics for COVID-19 henceforth.
This new development places the number of cases in Male' City at 40, out of which 19 are expatriates.
Maldives' first confirmed case of COVID-19 from the capital city, Male' was recorded on April 15, involving a local woman who presented to the flu clinic in Malé after developing coronavirus-like symptoms. At present, the country has not identified an index patient for the outbreak.
As of now, Maldives records 60 confirmed and 44 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 16 recoveries. Of the above, a total of 40 positive cases were found in capital city Male', one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over 2.4 million people and claimed over 165,107 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 629,222 people have recovered.
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