Male’, Maldives – Public Health Specialist, Dr. Sheena has warned that although the number of Covid-19 cases in the country have decreased significantly, the country has not yet reached a green zone for all precautionary measures to be lifted.
Speaking at a press conference held by the Health Emergency Operation Center (HEOC), Dr. Sheena said that many have been questioning whether the spread of the virus is now under control, given that the number of daily new infections have decreased. However, she pointed out that according to the indicators, the country has not yet entered a green zone.
She added that, while a decrease in cases which are not related to any clusters is progress in terms of decreasing the spread of the virus, the speed of this descent is not at the desired rate and that this is because some fail to adhere to the set precautionary measures.
“The trajectory is showing a decrease, but we have not reached a safe level. The aim is to keep cases unrelated to clusters below 20. Then we would be able to say that the spread of the virus is slowing down.” Dr. Sheena said.
Speaking further, Dr. Sheena highlighted that the precautionary measures set in the first phase were lifted or eased prior to the country reaching a green zone. She said that looking into this experience, easing of the measures right now may result in another increase and to avoid this, another two or three weeks must go by with strict care.
Currently, the number of Covid-19 cases in the country are above 9,900, while 34 have lost their lives due to the virus during this pandemic
