The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has revealed that most positive cases of COVID-19 in capital Male' met an average of 40 people a day, a number higher than the global average.
Speaking at the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC)'s daily press briefing on Friday, Spokesperson Mabrook Azeez said while patients in foriegn countries meet an average of 30 people in a single day, the daily average in the Maldives capital exceeds the global figures.
Expressing his disappointment, Mabrook said the warnings given by the authority to practice social distancing and stay home were not heeded, and as a result, the whole country is now at risk. While a 14-day lockdown has now been imposed on Male' area, people still continue to come out of their homes, said Mabrook.
"Simply wearing a mask is not going to protect you. It is sad that the positive cases show that this [current situation] could have been avoided. If social distancing had been effectively practiced, our situation would not have reached its current state," said Mabrook.
The first case of COVID-19 (MAV21) was detected in Male' city on Wednesday, after a woman with no recent travel history, and no direct links to a positive case presented herself to the Senahiya Flu Clinic with symptoms of the infection. Authorities say the patient had over 200 direct contacts over a span of five days, out of which 75 are high risk contacts.
Since then, MAV22 and MAV23, both direct contacts of MAV21 have tested positive for the virus, and three direct contacts of MAV23 (MAV 24, 25, 26) have tested positive for the virus. However, cases MAV27 and 28 are not known to be linked to any previous cases, and believed to be from two seperate, new clusters. The latest positive patient, MAV29 is a direct contact of MAV27.
While the capital city has been placed on a strict 14-day lockdown, inter-island travel has also been banned. The index case that led to local transmission has not been identified thus far.
