Authorities confirmed on Tuesday night that over 870 contacts were identified for the patients who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed a total of 17 cases on Tuesday alone, out of which 10 were locals and seven were expatriate workers.
Speaking at the press conference held by National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), Dr Ibrahim Afzal stated that HPA had already identified over 180 contacts, in addition to two hubs, in the ongoing 'contact tracing' process for the aforementioned cases.
The doctor revealed that one of the two hubs contain 640 contacts, while the other contains 50, bringing the total number of contacts to over 870. The hubs contain 'direct contacts', he said.
According to Afzal, HPA traced eight links connected to MAV068, 41 links connected to MAV069, and 34 links connected to MAV070, MAV071 and MAV072. MAV069 is an officer from Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), so Dr Afzal speculated that most of his contacts will be military personnel.
Four individuals were traced from MAV037, who traveled on a speedboat, while HPA confirmed that two out of the three contacts of MAV074 and MAV075 tested positive.
The two contact hubs are linked to MAV076, MAV077 and MAV078.
AFzal also stated that 14 contacts were traced from MAV080, who is connected to the employee from Bank of Ceylon (MAV035).
Moreover, MAV081 has 20 identified contacts, MAV083 has 15 identified contacts and MAV084 has four identified contacts. Dr Afzal also confirmed that MAV082 is a minor and had no contacts.
However, the doctor had formerly noted that MAV081 is an elderly citizen with pre-existing medical conditions, and was currently hospitalised at the critical care unit in Dharumavantha Hospital.
Although Dr Afzal had formerly gauged that the amount of daily cases ,ay stabilise without sudden spikes due to the lockdown imposed on Male' area, local media Mihaaru speculated, based on the latest numbers, that there may be a surge of COVID-19 cases.
Since Maldives currently has the capacity to test 300 samples per day, it will take over two days to test contacts identified on Tuesday alone.
The latest development places the number of cases in Male' City, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, at a grim 66. Out of these, 30 are expatriates.
Maldives' first confirmed case of COVID-19 from the capital city of Male', was recorded on April 15, involving a local woman who presented to the flu clinic in Malé after developing coronavirus-like symptoms.
HPA placed the greater Male' region under lockdown for 24 hours after the case was confirmed. Authorities extended the measures till May 1 after new cases surfaced.
Although an index patient for the outbreak is yet to be identified, the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC)'s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Monday, predicted that community spread of the virus began two to three weeks ago.
As of now, Maldives records 86 confirmed and 70 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 16 recoveries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over 2.5 million people and claimed over 177,600 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 690,000 people have recovered.
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