Bangladeshi national tests positive, increasing virus cases in Male’ to 12

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Saturday, announced a Bangladeshi national in Male’ has tested positive for COVID-19, increasing cases in the capital to 12, and cases nationwide to 32.

According to HPA, the Bangladeshi national, referred to as patient 32, is a direct contact of patient 30 – a Maldivian national who tested positive this Saturday.

Patient 30, in turn, is a direct contact of patient 27, who had tested positive on Friday, after presenting to a flu clinic with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. The cluster also includes patient 29.

HPA has established that Male’ now has three separate clusters, but the index patient remains to be established.

The first person to test positive for COVID-19 in Male’ – patient 21 – has neither recent travel history overseas nor contact with any other previous cases. The second to test positive- patient 22 - is a toddler – the child of patient 21. The third to test positive – patient 23 – was a direct contact of patient 21 but had presented symptoms before her. Patient 24, 25 and 26 are direct contacts of patient 23.

The third cluster which has been established is linked with patient 28, who had tested positive on Friday. A direct contact of patient 28, patient 31 tested positive this Saturday.

HPA has reported four new cases so far this Saturday, and the latest case, that of patient 31, marks the first time for the disease to have been identified within the capital’s populous migrant community.

Maldives has a population of some 200,000 migrant workers, most of whom are from Bangladesh, and live in congested shared quarters in the capital, Male’.

The Human Rights Watch, in March, noted the migrant population in Male’ to be particularly vulnerable to a highly infectious disease such as COVID-19. And the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM), on Saturday, expressed concern over the challenges being faced by the migrant population in gaining access to essentials such as food due to the lockdown.

The outbreak in Male’ also comes with the capital facing an influx of displaced migrant resort workers.

The poor living condition of migrant workers has always been an issue of concern, and the Maldivian government, last week, established a special taskforce to move out migrant workers from shared living quarters to a government facility.

The task force is made up of officials from HPA, Housing Development Corporation (HDC), Male’ City Council, Maldives National Defense Force and Maldives Police Service.

The temporary facility, located in Hulhumale’, has the capacity to accommodate 1,000 people.