Increase in Covid-19 cases is not due to lockdown easing, says Dr. Ibrahim Afzal.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA)’s epidemiologist made the statement during the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC)’s nightly Covid-19 press briefing on Sunday night.

While NEOC revealed that results from 678 samples had come back by 6pm on Sunday, spokesperson Mabrook said that 101 of them were positive for Covid-19. This is the second highest single-day surge in cases in the country.

Noting that there could be concern over the sudden increase in cases, Dr. Afzal said there is no room to say that this is due to lockdown easing.

As such, he highlighted that 79 out of the 101 cases belong “to the same cluster” while 20 belong to two smaller clusters. He added that there are only two independent cases.

The doctor also stressed that this “is a typical increase”.

With the 101 new cases reported on Sunday, Maldives’ Covid-19 total has reached 1,773. 453 people have recovered, and there have been five Covid-19 related deaths.

Maldives began the first phase of lockdown easing on Friday. And while health officials have said that they expect the number of Covid-19 cases to increase initially following the start of phase one, authorities have said that a full lockdown will reenacted if the country's situation worsens.