41 samples from Narudhoo test negative, contact tracing continues

Sh. Narudhoo Council, on Tuesday, announced that the results on 41 out of 52 people tested for COVID-19 in the island had come back negative.

11 people have tested positive for the new coronavirus from Narudhoo; the captain of the passenger boat Amaaz, which had left Male’ carrying passengers to islands in northern Maldives on April 15, family members who reside in the same house as him, two crew members, and people who reside in the same house as them.

Narudhoo council president Ahmed Arif told Sun that save for the 11 out of the 52 samples which had tested positive; the remaining 41 samples had come back negative.

But contact tracing remained in progress to identify more people who may have been exposed to the virus, he said.

Moosa Hussainfulhu, the focal point of Narudhoo social support desk and the council’s in-charge, previously told Sun positive virus cases had been identified from three residences. Six people, including the boat captain had tested positive from one residence; three, including a crew member from the second residence; and two, including another crew member from the third residence.

Amaaz boat had left Male’ just minutes prior to a lockdown on the Greater Male’ Region and a nationwide ban on all non-essential travel following the emergence of virus cases in the populous capital.

Virus cases nationwide have risen to 557, while the death toll has risen to two.