COVID-19: 103 new infections; 3,771 vaccinations

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Saturday, announced 103 additional cases of the new coronavirus, increasing confirmed coronavirus cases in Maldives to 24,651.

According to HPA, the 103 new cases include; 58 cases from the greater Male’ region, 24 cases from residential islands outside Male’, and 21 cases from operational resorts.

Meanwhile, 144 additional coronavirus patients were confirmed to have made full recoveries over the last 24 hours, increasing total recoveries to 21,512.

With the new developments, Maldives now has 3,063 active cases.

There are 94 patients in hospitals.

3,570 samples (including repeated samples) have been tested for the new coronavirus over the last 24-hours.

With the 103 new infections this Saturday, 1,248 people have tested positive over the last one-week period.

April 3: 103 cases

April 2: 169 cases

April 1: 300 cases

March 31: 241 cases

March 30: 167 cases

March 29: 147 cases

March 28: 121 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.

67 coronavirus patients have died from complications.

VACCINE DRIVE

Maldives began mass vaccinations against the new coronavirus on February 1.  HPA states 3,771 people were vaccinated on Saturday. Of the 3,771 people, 2,622 received their first dose, and 1,149 received their second dose.

Total 243,749 people have now received their first dose under program, while 1,721 have received their second dose.

Maldives has received 200,000 doses of the Covishield developed AstraZeneca and Oxford from India, 100,000 Covishield doses procured from Serum Institute of India, and an additional 12,000 Covishield doses and 5,850 Pfizer doses through COVAX. The country has also received a donation of 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China. The country has also ordered more doses of Covishield vaccine – 700,000 doses through an agreement with AstraZeneca and 100,000 more doses through an agreement with Serum Institute of India.