It is not something that most of us see in reality. Perhaps, we might have seen similar incidents in movies or during an emergency situation of a foreign country. But that is hardly the same as experiencing the same occurrences. Sadly, seeing all these incidents have become a daily part of those who are living in Maldives. In other words, it is the new normal of Maldives.
PPE clothing have become an everyday attire for the Health workers and frontliners of Maldives. These clothes itself cautions us about the terror Covid-19 brings.
It never occurred to Maldivians that one day, they would have to refrain from going to the daily congregation prayers, in order to protect themselves from a disease. Although mosques in the greater Male’ area have been opened after over two months, the threat of getting infected by Covid-19 has still not decreased. In fact, the recent surge in the number of confirmed Covid cases has increased the risk to a great extend.
While acknowledging the fact that the chance of getting infected is high, residents of Maldives continue to attend their regular congregation prayers, while wearing masks to pray for better days ahead.
Although the number of confirmed cases were being controlled for a certain period, the recent surge in the number of Covid cases have caused great disruption in the work of frontliners and health workers. The random testing done by these frontliners cannot be halted either, as the virus Covid-19 can be active inside the human body without showing any symptoms as well. Therefore, random testing for the virus continues to carry out in several areas of greater Male’, in hopes of preventing community spread.
Throughout the world, Maldives is famous among tourists as a peaceful and breathtaking destination. In fact, Maldives is widely known as “the tropical paradise” for various reasons such as its beauty and peace.
There would be wide smiles and satisfaction seen in the tourists face when they get off their airplanes, ready to spend their vacations under the bluest skies and in the brilliant turquoise beaches. However, due to the infectious Covid-19, the situation has taken unfortunate turns. Restrictive measures taken due to Covid has hidden the excitement off the faces of tourists and has replaced it with masks that none of us are a fan of. Nonetheless, for the benefit of ourselves and the people surrounding to us, it is important that we all adhere to the rules and regulations given by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Covid has spread to an extend in Maldives that the government is enforced to built temporary hospitals in order to treat the infected patients throughout the scattered atolls of Maldives.
The above picture is of a facility that was built in Hulhumale’, taken days before there was a sudden rise in the number of confirmed cases. However, over 85% of this facility has now been occupied by infected patients. If cases continue to rise in a daily basis, it is feared that shortly, this facility will get fully occupied as well. This is not something miniature. It is something that needs to be thought thoroughly by the residents of Maldives. Unless residents take on the responsibility -along with the government- to reduce the cases and sweep of the disease out of Maldives, bad news is bound to come.
Indeed, the health workers of Maldives have never been as exhausted as they are at present. As the number of confirmed cases continues to increase, the people to admit due to the virus increases as well. While being engaged in their work to serve people, majority of the health workers tend to miss their daily meals, causing the loss of over 3-4 kilograms.
The number of infected patients have already outnumbered the amount of nurses and doctors in the country by a great extend. If residents continue to ignore such details and are not cautious about this, it is fearful that we may have to spend a long journey trying to battle and overcome the virus Covid-19.
The above picture shows an infected patient who is battling Covid-19 with the help of a ventilator. This is the most distressing part of Covid; having to battle between surviving and death. There are already three patients on ventilator support, struggling to battle against death and eight patients in ICU as well.
29 people have passed away from the virus in Maldives. It may seem like a small death toll compared to those of other countries. But based on the population of Maldives, 29 is a huge number. Unless the residents of Maldives takes step towards improvement, the number of lives that will be lost due to this virus will continue to rise as well. It is important that we all adhere to the rules and regulation given, before it becomes too late to turn back.
