Inmate who died in Hulhumale’ Prison tests negative for virus

Maldives Correctional Service, on Wednesday, announced that the sample taken from a 92-year-old inmate who passed away while serving his sentence in the Hulhumale’ Prison has tested negative for COVID-19.

Maldives Correctional Service, in a tweet on Wednesday night, announced that the Health Protection Agency (HPA) had confirmed the negative test results to the service.

According to an earlier statement by the Commissioner of Prisons Ahmed Mohamedfulhu, the inmate had passed away on Tuesday night.

He had been bedridden prior to his death, added the Commissioner.

Health authorities, in light of the community spread of COVID-19 in Male’, have revised their protocols to make it compulsory for the death of elderly people and people in vulnerable locations to be screened for COVID-19.

Prisons in Maldives had taken precautionary measures to prevent a possible outbreak within the inmate population even prior to the identification of the Male’ community spread.

The authorities recently conducted random testing on the Maafushi Prison. The test results on all samples came back negative.