The Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Saturday announced 47 new positive cases of COVID-19.
HPA said the new cases include 19 locals, 22 Bangladeshi nationals, two Nepalese nationals and four Indian nationals. The total number of infections in the Maldives have now reached 1078.
During NEOC's press briefing held Saturday night, Dr. Nazla Rafeeq from HPA revealed the random sample of an elderly person had come back positive. Dr. Nazla said the agency has not been receiving much cooperation in collecting samples of the elderly, however, it is extremely important to test the elderly as they are a high-risk group. The Maldives have recorded four COVID-19 fatalities thus far, out of which three were elderly people.
One of the most distressing updates of Saturday was the news of a new-born baby testing positive for COVID-19. According to HPA, the baby, who is not yet one month old, was tested after displaying symptoms of the virus. The baby had come in contact with an indirect contact of a positive patient who later tested positive for the virus, said Dr. Nazla. The mother of the baby is now being tested for the virus, she added.
HPA also announced ten new recoveries, bringing the total number of recoveries to 59. The current rate of recovery is 5.3. HPA's epidemiologist, Dr. Ibrahim Afzal said the rate of recovery is slower than anticipated, and the agency is working to understand the reason behind the slow recovery rate.
