Health Protection Agency HPA has confirmed an additional 318 cases of COVID-19 in the Maldives on Thursday as the recent spike in daily cases continues onto the weekend.

The Agency said via Twitter that the new cases include 140 from the Greater Male' Area, 130 cases from inhabited islands, and 33 from operational resorts. HPA also reported 8 new cases from Safaris, 4 from industrial islands or islands used for other purposes, and a single case from islands under development.

The spike in cases has taken the total COVID cases reported in the island nation to a staggering 29,370 since March 2020.

HPA also confirmed that the new surge has now increased the number of active cases in the country to 4,585.

It also said that the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has now risen to 134 with 24,703 recoveries up to date.

The global pandemic has killed 73 individuals in the country including 65 locals and 8 foreigners.

The Health Emergency Operations Center HEOC had said yesterday that it is possible that the variant of the COVID-19 virus could be causing the recent spike in new cases but stopped short of confirming the presence of the variant.

It urged all to take all necessary actions to prevent the further spread of the illness including wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining social distance when outside.