Malé, Maldives – It has been revealed that only 23 beds of the total 267 beds in the Covid-19 management facilities established in the Malé area are now vacant, as the daily numbers of new Covid-19 cases show no sign of decreasing yet.
According to page 5 of the ‘Maldives Tourism Updates’ dated 11th February 2020, released by the Minsitry of Tourism showed that there are currently three Covid-19 management facilities in the Malé region, which are the DH11 (11th floor of the Dharumavantha Hospital), DH16 (16th floor of the Dharumavantha Hospital) and the Hulhumalé Covid-19 facility.
It was further detailed that the DH11 facility has 9 beds, while the DH16 facility has 10 beds. However, the Hulhumalé facility is much bigger, with 248 beds available, summing the total bed capacity in the Covid-19 management facilities of the area to 267.
While this is so, the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the country, especially in the Male’ region is seemingly filling the facilities to near full capacity, with DH11 having only 5 beds, DH16 having only 3 beds and Hulhumalé facility having only 15 beds vacant.
Imploring the public to assist the system in controlling the spread of the virus in the country, Spokesperson of the Health Emergency Operation Center (HEOC) Dr. Nazla Rafeeq stated that it is absolutely certain that this is the worst wave of Covid-19 infections the country has seen so far. She detailed that hospitalizations are now alarmingly high and that only a handful of beds remain, leaving the country in a critical state.
Currently the number of active Covid-19 infections have reached 2,243, amounting the total cases recorded in the country so far, to 17,387. This includes the local spreads currently active across the country, including that of Addu City, Fuvahmulah and Thinadhoo. Authorities have also confirmed that the UK variant of the Covid-19 virus, which experts have revealed to spread much faster than other variants, has been found in various parts of the island nation.
