Foreigner tests positive for malaria; no outbreak

A foreigner has tested positive for malaria in the Maldives – a disease that has been eradicated from the archipelago.

Health Ministry’s Senior Executive Director Aminath Shathufa told Sun that it had not been the first time a foreigner has tested positive for malaria in the Maldives. In this regard, she said such cases are spotted here and there, although not often.

“It is not an outbreak as the positive case is not from a Maldivian,” she added.

Shathufa stressed that the type of mosquito spreading malaria does not exist in the Maldives.

World Health Organization (WHO) declared Maldives Malaria-free in 2015 – marking the first member country from South Asia to completely eradicate the disease.