Dr. Abdul Samad Memorial Hospital begins conducting COVID-19 tests

Testing facilities for COVID-19 has been established at Dr. Abdul Samad Memorial Hospital, located in G. Dh. Thinadhoo.

Shahuza Hussain, the focal point for COVID-19 efforts in G. Dh. Atoll, told Sun that Dr. Abdul Samad Memorial Hospital begun conducting COVID-19 tests on Wednesday.

“They are running PCR tests. [The hospital has the capacity to] process 48 tests per day, two test per hour,” said Shahuza.

The facilities were established by the Maldivian government.

Shahuza said the hospital will process all samples taken from G. A. Atoll and G. Dh. Atoll.

“22 samples taken from G. Dh. Atoll yesterday were tested for COVID. All samples tested negative,” she said.

The establishment of testing facilities at Dr. Abdul Samad Memorial Hospital comes after the government opened a COVID-19 medical facility in G. A. Vilingili in July, part of a project to decentralize and expand access to coronavirus care by establishing regional facilities to treat coronavirus patients.

Maldives is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases following the relaxation of the lockdown in the greater Male’ region in July, as well as a surge in hospitalized patients.

Following the surge in cases, authorities implemented additional restrictions, including imposing a temporary ban on travel of persons from Male’ to other residential islands, except those who travel to the capital to access essential services such as healthcare.

Wearing masks when out in public in the greater Male’ region and residential islands with confirmed coronavirus cases is now mandatory, and the wearing of masks in all residential islands, including those with no confirmed cases has been declared highly recommended.

Maldives has 4,594 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 148 new cases recorded on Wednesday. 2,706 of the patients have since recovered, while 19 have died from complications.

The country now has 1,869 active cases. 110 coronavirus patients are hospitalized.