Sixty people have tested positive for COVID-19 on Kadima, a resort island in Dh Atoll of the Maldives, informed Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) in its press briefing, reported by edition.mv. 

The outbreak on the island was detected after a 60-year-old resort employee had fallen ill on October 30 and later died at Dh atoll hospital. The man’s COVID test came positive after his death. Dr Nazala Rafeeq, the spokesperson of HEOC,  said on Sunday that 44 people were identified as contacts of sixty people that tested positive for the virus, reported edition.mv. 

A medical team from HEOC is camping on the island for contact tracing and sample collection purposes. Efforts to transport high-risk individuals to Dh atoll hospital are being taken, informed the team. 

This is the first case of its kind where the virus spread of this magnitude has been reported in a resort island in the country. 

Meanwhile, on the direction of Maldives’ Health Protection Agency (HPA), the Maldives Police Service on Sunday launched an investigation into the possible negligence by the resort in the death of the man. 

The deceased’s family members alleged that he had reported mild fever to the island’s clinic ten days prior to his death. He reported a loss of sense of smell and taste, one of the COVID symptoms, to the clinic. Despite this, the resort management failed to transfer him to the main atoll hospital in time. 

Maldives is hoping for early recovery of its tourism industry. The spread of the virus in resort islands could pose a challenge to the country’s recovery as its economy is heavily dependent on high-end tourism.