Male: Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Wednesday, announced 19 new infections, increasing cases of the new coronavirus in Maldives to 1,457.

According to HPA, the new cases are 13 Bangladeshis, four Maldivians, one Indian and one Nepali.

While coronavirus cases have now increased to 1,457, 232 people have since recovered, and five have died from complications.

National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) announced on Tuesday that Maldives has some 1,200 active coronavirus cases, 1,108 of whom are in isolation facilities.

Meanwhile, 1,817 people who may have been exposed to the virus after coming into contact with positive cases are in quarantine facilities.

According to NEOC, health authorities have collected a total of 20,551 samples for testing, the results on 531 of which are pending.

Maldives identified its first coronavirus case, in Kuredu resort, on March 7, and has been in a state of public health emergency since March 12.

While virus cases had initially been restricted to resorts and safaris, and later inbound travelers in quarantine facilities, the populous Maldivian capital Male’ City identified its first virus case on April 15 – prompting a lockdown on the Greater Male’ Region.

Male’ City quickly became the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Maldives, contributing to over 1,400 of the total virus cases.

Health authorities last week initiated antibody tests to investigate the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The first round of antibody tests target migrant workers living in congested labor quarters in Male’ City. The tests have picked up several coronavirus cases which had gone undetected.

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