44 cases of COVID-19 confirmed, total rises to 618

Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced that 44 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Maldives up until 16:30 today.

A tweet sent out from the official account of HPA stated that the cases confirmed today, include 34 Bangladeshi nationals, eight Maldivians as well as two Indian nationals. The confirmed case includes samples from vulnerable locations in the capital which are being monitored by the authorities.

HPA previously announced a single case of the virus today. Along with the 44 new cases, the total number of cases confirmed in the country for today stands at 45. 

✳️ COVID-19 Case Updates

As of 04:30pm, confirmed an additional 44 cases of COVID-19 infection in Maldives.

Cases:
- 34 Bangladeshi
- 02 Indians
- 08 Maldivians

This includes samples from active surveillance of vulnerable homes.

Total number of cases: 618

— Health Protection Agency (@HPA_MV) May 6, 2020

Authorities have previously stated that the migrant worker population of the country was at the highest risk from the virus due to the conditions they are forced to live in.

An overwhelming majority of the confirmed cases have been identified from the migrant population in the country with just around 200 local cases of the virus confirmed. 

This led the authorities to begin efforts and relocate immigrants from locations of poor hygiene and congestion in the capital to elsewhere.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Maldives has now risen to 618, with two deaths recorded. The number of recoveries stands at 20.