Addu patient confirmed negative for COVID-19 following additional testing

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Sunday, announced that the patient transferred from Addu Equatorial Hospital to Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male’ who was previously found to be positive for COVID-19 was now confirmed to be negative for the disease following additional testing.

HPA made the announcement via its official Twitter account, and has yet to release any details.

The patient in question, a 43-year-old Maldivian male, had been brought in to Addu Equatorial Hospital on Friday morning after suffering a heart complication.

He was medically evacuated to IGMH in Male’ on early Saturday, and had tested positive for COVID-19 during routine coronavirus screening as is IGMH’s standard procedure for all hospitalized patients.

The positive result during the routine screening had prompted Addu city to go into full lockdown based on the possibility of a community spread within the city.

At a press conference held by the Addu city council on Saturday afternoon, Sharaf Saadath said that health authorities in Addu had identified and isolated 26 direct contacts of the patient.

They were also monitoring another patient who had been transported to Addu Equatorial Hospital on the same ambulance which had been used to transport him to the airport.

The patient, who has now been confirmed to be negative for COVID-29, is a resident of Maradhoo-Feydhoo. He had worked for the resort chain Anantara, and had travelled back to Addu from Male’ on March 30.