Malé, Maldives – Health Protection Agency (HPA) has revealed that 84 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported from the Maldives yesterday.
In the statistics released by HPA, it was detailed that out of the 88 cases, 32 were from the Malé area, while 37 cases were recorded from inhabited islands. The figures also included the 13 new found cases from operational resorts and 2 cases in live aboards, which brought up the total active cases in the country to 2,829 as of 18:00 of April 12, 2021
Currently there are 64 patients receiving hospitalized care for the virus throughout the country.
While experts continuously reiterated the importance of taking preventive steps against Covid-19, such as maintaining adequate physical distancing, wearing masks and practicing hand hygiene previously, for the Local Council Election held on April 10, citizens were allowed to travel to their registered voting islands without any quarantine or restrictive measures. Covid-19 patients and individuals in quarantine voted at the same stations as others while Covid-19 positive officials were allowed to stay at voting stations in some locations.
While voters flocked to travel departure hubs on voting day, this decision by the HPA was criticized by many including resort workers who were isolated from their families in resorts since the beginning of the pandemic, people who could not travel for medical reasons and those who could not attend their loved ones’ funerals due to strict quarantine guidelines.
The public also raised concerns on social media about the possibility of Covid-19 virus spreading in the islands.
Since the country recorded its first case of Covid-19, Maldives has reported 67 deaths in connection to Covid-19. The deceased are 60 Maldivian nationals, 6 Bangladeshi nationals and a Filipino national
