COVID-19: Positivity rate in Maldivian capital drops to 8%

The sample positivity rate for COVID-19 in the greater Male’ region has dropped to eight percent.

The positivity rate in Maldives had to shoot up in early January, with the wave of cases of the Omicron variant.

According to statistics released by Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Thursday, the national positivity rate, which was at eight percent in in early January, hit 36 percent in the end of January before dropping to 18 percent.

HPA said that the national positivity rate remains high due to continued infections in residential islands in the atolls.

The positivity rate in residential islands outside the greater Male’ region remains at 44 percent.

However, the positivity rate in the greater Male’ region has dropped to what it was in the beginning of January – eight percent – coming down from 45 percent in late January.

HPA, which previously reported the positivity rate daily, now reports the rate weekly.

An official from HPA told Sun that the change was made to improve accuracy.

“Weekly data is more accurate than daily data. We will make a weekly estimate, from Wednesday to Thursday the next week,” said the official.

Maldives has recorded 174,163 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 172 new cases on Friday. 159,621 patients have since recovered, while 297 have died from complications.