COVID patient dies in Addu, increasing death toll to 255

Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced on Monday that a COVID-19 patient admitted at the Addu Covid Management Facility has passed away.  

HPA identified the deceased as a 79-year-old Maldivian male.  

He passed away at 09:30 pm on Sunday. 

“This is the 255th COVID-19 death in the Maldives,” confirmed HPA in a tweet.    

It also marks the fifth COVID-19 death in December. 

Addu – Maldives' second most populous city – has been under monitoring since August. The city has 2,872 confirmed cases, including 23 new cases on Sunday. 2,634 patients have since recovered.  

The city currently has 228 active cases. Four of the patients are hospitalized. 

The death of the COVID-19 patient at Addu Covid Management Facility increases the city’s death toll to 11. 

Maldives has 92,211 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 116 new cases recorded on Sunday. 90,205 patients have since recovered.      

The country currently has 1,739 active cases. 19 of the patients are hospitalized. 

The latest COVID-19 fatality came the same day Maldives confirmed its first case of the Omicron variant in a tourist.  

Omicron, first reported from South Africa on November 24, has been classified by World Health Organization (WHO) as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the predominant Delta variant.  

Maldives imposed new travel restrictions following the emergence of Omicron last week. Entrance of tourists from seven southern African countries - South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Eswatini – has been banned, while locals and work-permit holders arriving from the countries are required to quarantine.

No additional travel restrictions have been imposed yet, though cases have also been reported in several European countries that are top source markets for tourist arrivals to Maldives, since then.