Health Protection Agency HPA says 20 MNDF officers have now tested positive for Covid-19 with fears mounting as to how this will affect the fight against the global pandemic.
Addressing the media, Dr. Ibrahim Afzal said 14 MNDF officers were tested positive yesterday and with this the MND, which includes cases from MNDF, has now grown to a cluster of 20 cases.
Dr. Afzal said as MNDF is on the frontlines of the fight against Covid-19, the contact tracing for the cases would be given priority and would be fast-tracked.
Meanwhile, Chief of Defence Force Major General Abdullah Shamal praised the female MNDF officers who performed the last rites of the first patient to die from Covid-19 in Maldives. The 83-year-old woman died yesterday after contracting the virus but was tested positive after she was declared dead.
In a tweet, Shamal said despite the tragic news and although the number of MNDF frontline workers testing positive for Covid-19 keeps increasing, the Maldivian people could rest assured that the armed forces will not falter and that it would fight Covid-19 head-on.
