Maldives’ first Covid-19 cases emerged on March 7, 2020 when two migrant workers contracted the infection from an Italian tourist, who tested positive after returning to Italy.
By March 31, the remote Indian Ocean nation had 19 confirmed cases of the disease – three of whom were Maldivian nationals, who had returned from the United Kingdom, while the rest were either tourists or migrant workers. The numbers could be higher because so far limited testing has been done.
Maldives has been particularly vulnerable to the disease because of the high number of tourists visiting the country, which received 1.7 million tourists in 2019. Tourists from China were the largest by country of origin, accounting for nearly 20% of arrivals, followed by India and Italy. Moreover, the island country has significantly large population of migrant workers (approximately 100,000), who make up nearly a quarter of its total population. These workers, according to Human Rights Watch, live in congested shared quarters and do work that does not make it possible to practice strict social distancing and, therefore, were more vulnerable to a larger outbreak. Read More…
, who make up nearly a quarter of its total population. These workers, according to Human Rights Watch, live in congested shared quarters and do work that does not make it possible to practice strict social distancing and, therefore, were more vulnerable to a larger outbreak.){kind=link}