It is unlikely for the Maldives to reach the peak of COVID-19 transmissions when under a lockdown, the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said on Wednesday.
Some doctors representing NEOC have estimated that almost 6000 positive cases of COVID-19 will be detected in the Maldives in a single day by the end of the month. The current highest number of positive cases recorded in a single day is 191.
Speaking at NEOC's daily press conference on Wednesday night, Dr. Ibrahim Afzal from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said it is unlikely that a true peak may be reached during a lockdown. Under the current circumstances, surges are more likely to be linked to clusters within vulnerable expatriate labour quarters, or from a single institution where infection has spread among its employees.
A lockdown was imposed on Male' city last month after the first case of local transmission was identified on April 15. The duration of the lockdown has been extended until May 14. While over 600 people have tested positive for the virus, authorities believe the numbers will significantly increase over the next two weeks.
