COVID-19: Maldives confirms 35 additional cases

Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed on Monday that an additional 35 persons were found positive for COVID-19 in Maldives.

The new cases (MAV0862 - MAV0897) include 14 locals and 21 foreign nationals. Of the expatriates, 14 are from Bangladesh while seven are Indian citizens. Five of the locals are females, while the rest both local and foreign, are males.

According to the HPA dashboard, all patients are in stable condition.

With this development, Maldives now records total 897 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 863 active cases, three fatalities and a total of 31 recoveries. Capital city Malé, one of the most densely populated places in the world, has recorded a significant increase in COVID-19 since it recorded its first local transmission of the virus on April 15.

Amid the ongoing state of public health emergency declared on March 12, the administration first imposed the lockdown across the Greater Male' Region on April 15, after a Maldivian national living in the capital tested positive for COVID-19. The lockdown has since been extended multiple times, with the latest development placing its deadline on this coming Thursday, May 14.

Following the lockdown, a number of locals, from various regions across the archipelago, found themselves stranded in the capital area. Authorities have since begun issuing authorisation for those with pressing needs to leave Male' and return to their home islands.

Capital city Malé, one of the most densely populated places in the world, has recorded a significant increase in COVID-19 since it recorded its first local transmission of the virus on April 15.

On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 4.25 million people and claimed over 287,000 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, 1.52 million people have recovered.