National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) has revealed that authorities have been facing challenges in collecting samples from senior citizens under their efforts to understand the extent of COVID-19 spread within the high-risk group.
In a news brief held on Tuesday night, Dr Ibrahim Afzal from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the authority is working to understand extent of the spread of the illness within the high-risk group.
The high-risk groups for COVID-19 are children, the elderly, and those having chronic illnesses. At the moment, few elderly people have contracted the virus in the Maldives. The Maldives recorded its fourth fatality on Wednesday, an 88 year old. This is the second elderly person to die of COVID-19 in the archipelago. A 70 year old remains on ventilator support.
Afzal said HPA is collecting samples of senior citizens to understand the extent of spread of transmission among the group. However, the authority has not been receiving cooperation from the public in collecting samples of the elderly, said the doctor. Stressing that it is highly crucial to have insight on the extent of transmission, Dr. Afzal urged the public to cooperate with the authority in collecting random samples.
“We need to have an insight on the extent of the spread of the virus within the high-risk group. Collecting samples of elderly is part of the active surveillance work being carried out to understand the matter," said the doctor.
The Maldives has recorded 955 cases of COVID-19 and four fatalities thus far. HPA on Wednesday extended the lockdown imposed on the Male' area since April 15 by an additional 14 days.
