Health Protection Agency (HPA) has stated the spread of COVID-19 in the Maldives is being accelerated by the lack of adherence to safety measures such as social distancing and wearing face masks.
Speaking at a press conference, Epidemiologist at HPA Dr. Ibrahim Afzal said despite the detection of a new, more contagious variant of the COVID-19 virus, the rapid spread of the disease can still be attributed to the lack of proper adherence to personal safety measures. In this regard, Dr. Afzal said situations which lead to a person exposed to COVID-19 are failure to wear masks or not being careful with hand hygiene around a person or place that carries the virus. He added even the most dangerous, contagious variants would need assistance from people for it to spread rapidly.
Speaking further, the doctor also highlighted the importance of the vaccine to control the spread of the disease and reduce the severity of the disease to those who are infected. In this regard, he noted 87% of people infected with COVID-19 this month did not receive any dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 86% of all patients hospitalised did not receive any dose of the vaccine. He added two of the three patients who died from COVID-19 on May 22 had also not received any dose of the vaccine.
The spread of COVID-19 has worsened rapidly in the Maldives over the past few weeks, with record numbers of cases and deaths being reported. As per the latest update shared by HPA, there are over 22,000 active cases in the country, including nearly 300 patients who have been hospitalised.