RESPONSE TO COVID-19 SITREP: 20 January 2021

SUMMARY OF SITUATION

Update Confirmed Cases 14,582 Recoveries 13,566 (93%) Deaths 49 (0.34%) Active Cases 960 Hospitalized Cases 65 Active cases: Geographical distribution Greater Male’ Area 522 Haa Alif Vashafaru 1 Haa Alif Filladhoo 1 Haa Alif Dhidhdhoo 2 Haa Dhaal Hanimaadhoo 2 Shaviyani Komandoo 1 Baa 5 Baa 1 Baa 2 Kaafu 1 Kaafu 4 Raa 1 Raa 2 Raa 2 Alif Alif Maalhos 2 Alif Dhaal Kunburudhoo 1 Alif Dhaal Dhangethi 1 Thaa Guraidhoo 1

Thaa 4 Laamu 3 Laamu 1

Public health risk alert levels Laamu 4 National Level YELLOW Gaaf Dhaal 1 2 Gaaf Alifu 57 Gaaf Alifu 7 Male’ Level RED Gaaf Alifu 2 City 4

1 Key updates

COVID-19 situation in the Maldives

It has been 319 days since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the Maldives. So far 14,633 cases have been confirmed in the country. There are 962 active cases in the country; 600 amongst locals and 362 amongst foreigners. 13,614 cases have recovered (Recovery rate: 93%). Total 49 deaths have been reported (Mortality Rate: 0.34%).

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0 7-Oct 6-Jan 4-Nov 2-Dec 9-Dec 1-Aug 8-Aug 1-Sep 8-Sep 24-Jul 14-Oct 21-Oct 28-Oct 13-Jan 19-Jan 11-Nov 18-Nov 25-Nov 16-Dec 23-Dec 30-Dec 15-Aug 23-Aug 16-Sep 23-Sep 30-Sep 2020 2021

Greater Male’ region (Male’ City, and Hulhumale) continue to be the most affected with 525 active cases. New cases have link to known cases or clusters, and majority of cases in inhabited islands have link to travel from Male’ area. Active cases outside of the greater Male’ region have been increasing from the last week of December 2020. A major outbreak was reported in Dhevvadhoo Island of Gaaf Alifu with 57 cases. Island COVID-19 task force efficiently attended and are managing the outbreak.

119 active cases in 26 islands in the Maldives are under observation. Cases are reported more among locals than foreigners – mainly detected during quarantine period before interacting with the community in the islands. Some islands with tourism have reported cases among tourists in their guesthouses. These travelers tested positive in departure samples and have been quarantined in the islands itself. Increase in number of cases are mostly seen in operational and non-operational resorts. Various resorts have reported outbreak, mainly amongst the workers than the tourists Currently there are 295 active cases in 43 operational resorts. There are major active clusters in three operational resort. 59 cases from Oblu Sangeli Resort, 53 cases from Biyaadhoo Island Resort and 32 cases from Sun Siyam Olhuveli Resort are under observation. Health Protection Agency have made several interventions to improve compliance to Public Health and Social Measures in tourist establishments. The safety of the staffs from the hospitality industry

2 has been prioritized – and new measures have been put in place to further ensure their safety. This includes the introduction of a new regulation to resorts - that all employees in resorts MUST have a negative PCR test at the end of quarantine to be cleared for work. Resorts who do not comply will be penalized and closed for business. Currently 65 cases are admitted in the hospitals with moderate to severe illness, and 4 cases in the ICU. All of the cases are stable at the time of reporting and none on ventilator. There are currently 9 persons admitted in COVID-19 facilities outside of the greater Male’ region ( 4 admissions in and 5 persons admitted in the Gaaf Alif COVID-19 facility). All admitted in the atoll COVID-19 facilities are elderly persons requiring further care and support. 367,424 samples have been tested to date, almost equivalent to 65 percent of the population in the country. The country’s testing capacity has increased to 3000-3500 samples per day -

maintaining one of the best testing rates in the world. The sample positivity rate is between 2-3 percent in the last few weeks. This scale of testing has been possible due to WHO support. Positive cases continue to be seen more among contacts of positive cases and during active surveillance. COVID-19 cases amongst ARI consultations in FLU Clinics have decreased despite good number of consultations. The number of departure samples tested per day has also increased, especially with the increasing demand from incoming tourists in to the country. The number of tourists who arrived in the Maldives have increased significantly since reopening of the borders in July 2020. In the first two weeks of 2021, Maldives has welcomed over 40,426 tourists– with the greatest number of tourists arriving from Russia and India. Special measures to safe guard the staffs at airports and points of entry have been ensured. All schools in the country reopened for all classes after a lengthy interruption using the School COVID-19 guidelines and SOP. Sporadic cases have been reported in a few schools among some students and teachers. The Minister of Health has announced that the Public Health Emergency declared due to COVID- 19 in the Maldives has been further extended till 3rd February 2021.

3 COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Update The country continues to prepare to deploy COVID-19 vaccination in the country at the earliest possible. WHO facilitated development and submission of the application to the COVAX facility in including the National COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan and VIRAF 2.0 tool. The National Steering Committee is completing various preparedness related procedures. The HEOC has announced the launching of the National Registration Portal for COVID-19 vaccination. The country plans to further expand this portal to include vaccine coverage, AEFI surveillance, and vaccine safety. The Ministry of Health announced the link to the online registration at my.health.mv for the registration. Government of India donated 100,000 doses of COVISHIELD vaccines have reached Maldives on 20 January 2021. The national experts are deliberating on the Emergency Use Authorization to vaccinate people while waiting for Emergency Use Listing of the vaccine from WHO. Although the registrations have opened for those who wish to receive the vaccine, HEOC has not conveyed the exact date the vaccination will commence. The first round of vaccines will be given to those who are directly and indirectly involved in the care of patients, and other frontline workers. This includes doctors, nurses, lab technicians, RRT staff and other hospital workers. In addition to the above, the first round of vaccination will also focus on high risk groups. Maldives is also expecting more vaccines from COVAX Facility and bilateral relations and aspire to vaccinate the entire people living in Maldives free of cost. Ministry of Health and WHO Team are currently discussing with the commonwealth promoting piloting of Astra-Zeneca vaccine in a Small Island Developing State. WHO team has been requested by the Common Wealth to lead the planning process. The Minister of Finance has signed an agreement with AstraZeneca company from Singapore to procure 700,000 doses of vaccines. Delivery date of these vaccines are not known.

COVID-19 Spending Report – as of 14 January 2021

As of 14 January 2021, total spending towards COVID-19 health and social efforts stood at MVR 1,464.7 million; a 3.8% increase from the week before. In this review period 43.2% of total health and social spending was committed-spending. In terms of week-on-week spending, Ministry of Health (MoH) and National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) were the only offices with recorded expenditures of MVR 32.9 million and 21.2 million respectively. Most of the spending for MoH was on Supplies and Requisites for Service Provision and for NSPA on Income Support Allowance Payments. COVID-19 Frontline Allowance was introduced to incentivize frontline workers exposed to different levels of risk associated with the COVID-19 health protection efforts. These frontline workers have been grouped into 3 risk categories (low, medium and high risk), which determine the value of allowance paid out. As of 5 January 2021, total disbursements made for frontline workers allowance is MVR 90.3 million (10,180 frontline workers).

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