Young mother dies from COVID-19, week after emergency C-section

A young woman in critical condition after contracting COVID-19 passed away on Saturday, eight days after doctors performed cesarean to deliver her baby.

The young woman, a 25-year-old from F. Nilandhoo, was medically evacuated to Male’ in late May.

Doctors performed cesarean to deliver her baby at eight months on May 29, after her condition deteriorated and she went into respiratory distress.

According to Health Protection Agency (HPA), the young woman was treated on the 11th floor of Dharumavantha Hospital, and was on a ventilator for 15 days.

She passed away at 12:43 pm this Saturday.

“This is the 195th COVID-19 death in the Maldives,” said HPA.

It also marks the first maternal death related to COVID-19 in Maldives.

The young woman’s child is being treated in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Maldives experienced an alarming surge in both infection rate and fatalities following the ease in restrictive measures in April. Infection rates have since begun dropping with the implementation of new restrictive measures in May.

Last May saw the highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in a single month, with 88 deaths. This June has seen 33 deaths.

The surge in cases has also led to a rise in cases among expectant mothers, leading to cases involving premature births, and cases of both mothers and their newborns developing serious illness.

Maldives has 69,831 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 295 new cases recorded on Friday. 56,559 patients have since recovered.

The country currently has 13,071 active cases. 111 of the patients are hospitalized.