A 3rd Maldivian who arrived from UK tests positive for COVID-19

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Tuesday, announced a Maldivian national who travelled back to Maldives from the UK had tested positive for COVID-19.

According to HPA, the new virus patient has been quarantined at the Royal Island Resort since arriving back from the UK.

The patient in question had been quarantined in the same room as the second Maldivian national to test positive for the virus, who had also travelled back from the UK, and tested positive for the virus on Sunday, March 29.

The new patient was tested after developing symptoms consistent with the illness on Monday evening.

The latest case brings the total active virus cases in Maldives to three; all of whom are Maldivian nationals who recently returned from the UK.

At the last National Emergency Operations Center briefing, held on Monday night, government spokesperson Mabrouq Azeez said that 77 people had been identified through the contact tracing done on the first two Maldivian virus patients.

29 people had contact with the first Maldivian virus patient, a 38-year-old male who had been in quarantine in Holiday Island Resort since returning from the UK on March 22, and tested positive for the virus on Friday, March 27.

All of them are under home quarantine.

Meanwhile, 48 were identified through contact tracing on the second Maldivian national, five of whom are either in quarantine facilities or under home quarantine.

18 have tested positive for the virus in Maldives, including two Italian nationals who had departed from Maldives before they were identified as virus patients.

13 have since recovered, and the number of active cases now stands at three.

All inbound passengers, with the exception of tourists with resort bookings, are now required to undergo 14-day quarantine at a designated government facility. HPA recently revised its protocol to ensure that everyone in quarantine are tested for the virus before they are released, regardless of whether they are symptomatic or asymptomatic.