COVID-19: 59 new infections, 33 from resorts

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Wednesday, announced 59 additional cases of the new coronavirus, increasing confirmed coronavirus cases in Maldives to 14,277.

According to HPA, the 59 new cases include; 17 cases from the greater Male’ region, nine cases from residential islands outside Male’, and 33 cases from operational resorts.

Of the 33 new cases from resorts, 27 are from OBLU SELECT at Sangeli, and all employees.

HPA states that the first case was identified on January 3 when a PCR test taken by an employee prior to travelling overseas came back positive. Eight of the employee’s contacts were placed under quarantine in connection to the case.

Four more employees who showed symptoms tested positive on January 11. Neither of them had contact with the initial positive case, prompting HPA to conduct initiate random sampling. Out of the 93 samples tested, 19 came back positive this Wednesday. And the results on an additional eight employees who were tested for showing symptoms have also come back positive.

Active cases in OBLU SELECT at Sangeli now stands at 32. 

Meanwhile, 36 additional coronavirus patients were confirmed to have made full recoveries over the last 24 hours, increasing total recoveries to 13,438.

With the new developments, Maldives now has 783 active cases.

There are 55 patients in hospitals.

351,491 samples (including repeated samples) have been tested for the new coronavirus to date.

With the 59 new infections this Wednesday, 310 people have tested positive over the last one-week period.

January 13: 59 cases

January 12: 59 cases

January 11: 50 cases

January 10: 44 cases

January 9: 25 cases

January 8: 52 cases

January 7: 21 cases

Maldives identified its first coronavirus case on March 7, and declared a state of public health emergency over the pandemic less than a week later on March 12.

While coronavirus cases had initially been restricted to resorts and safaris, and later quarantine facilities holding inbound travelers, Male’ City identified its first coronavirus case on April 15, prompting a city-wide lockdown.

The populous capital quickly emerged as the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Maldives, contributing to the majority of total cases.

49 coronavirus patients have died from complications.