AEOC: Covid situation in Addu under control, no community spread

Addu Emergency Operations Center (AEOC) said on Tuesday that there is no community spread of COVID-19 at present in Addu City, and that the infection rate in the city is practically under control.

In a press conference by AEOC on Tuesday night, Addu Equatorial Hospital’s physician Dr. Abdulla Munshid said that no cases have been found outside of the two clusters in the city.

Addu has two active clusters; one discovered in Hithadhoo and one in Hulhudhoo-Meedhoo.

Munshid said that a new case – a five-year-old - was identified in Addu on Tuesday, and that the case is a direct contact of a confirmed case linked with one of the clusters.

“I have to say the Covid cases in Addu City are nearly under control. Because we haven’t found a case outside of the clusters,” he said.

Addu currently has 62 active cases; 25 cases in Hulhudhoo-Meedhoo, 20 cases in Hithadhoo, 13 cases in Feydhoo and four cases in Maradhoo-Feydhoo.

Munshid said that authorities have completed contact tracing for all confirmed cases, and that all direct contacts have been quarantined.

Munshid said that while authorities are able to establish based on current evidence that there is no community spread at present in Addu, they are also making it a priority to continue conducting random sampling to identify a possible community spread.

Health authorities in Addu took 280 samples for testing on Tuesday alone, including; 190 random samples, 15 samples for additional samples, 37 samples from people under home quarantine, 12 samples from walk-ins to flu clinics, and 27 samples from travellers.

“Our [Addu’s] situation will be established based on the outcome of random samples,” said Munshid.

He also commended the residents of Addu for their compliance to measures implemented to control the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccine was administered to 693 people in Addu on Tuesday, increasing the number of people vaccinated in the city to 2,340. Health authorities in Addu are targeting ramping up daily vaccinations to 1,000.

Restrictive measures in Addu were extended for another one-week period on Tuesday. The measures include an 8:00 pm to 4:30 am curfew, a ban on travel between the different districts of the city, a ban on parties, functions and other events, a ban on crowds of more than three persons, a ban on sporting activities, and the closure of teashops and hotels, gyms, salons and barber’s shops. Schools, colleges and universities have also been closed for face-to-face classes.