Contact bubble shrinks, but it provides little relief

Health Protection Agency (HPA) epidemiologist Dr. Ibrahim Afzal said on Wednesday that contacts of coronavirus patients have decreased over the last week, but that it provides little relief.

Speaking at the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) press conference on Wednesday night, Dr. Afzal said that a coronavirus patient usually transmits the disease to an average of four people, but that the number has dropped in recent days.

The contact bubble of coronavirus patients, which had significantly increased following the relaxation of the lockdown, has also decreased.

Afzal said the statistics provide little relief as the disease continues to spread within the community, and as daily infections continue to rise.

“Though the contact bubble appears to have shrunk, the reality is that there’s little relief if total cases continue to increase,” he said.

Afzal said that a good indication requires a decrease in contacts coupled with a decrease in daily infections.

“But even if contacts are fewer, it cannot be taken as a sign the spread of the disease is under control with the weekly and daily cases so high,” he said.

Maldives is facing a surge in coronavirus cases with the relaxation of the lockdown in the greater Male’ region – the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Maldives has 6,225 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 146 new infections recorded on Wednesday. 3,788 patients have since recovered, while 24 have died from complications.

More than 800 new cases have been recorded over the last one-week period alone.

The country currently has 2,413 active cases. 152 coronavirus patients are hospitalized.