An elderly Maldivian patient who tested positive for COVID-19 has since been put on ventilator after the condition of the patient worsened.

Speaking at the NEOC press conference, Dr. Mohamed Ali said that the patient is an 88-year-old man. Sources have told One Online that the patient is the husband of the 83-year-old woman; the first person passed away from the illness in the Maldives.

Dr. Mohamed Ali said that the treatment with the ventilator began today after his condition keeps getting worse with complications due to low blood pressure.

He said that people with COVID-19 have breathing difficulties as water is formed in the respiratory system and the oxygen taken into the body is decreased.

Five people are being treated for COVID-19 at Dharumavantha Hospital which includes two local men of the ages 68 and 80, a 70-year-old local woman, a man from Pakistan and the man on the ventilator.

Total number cases of COVID-19 in the Maldives has risen to 527 while 18 people have recovered and one. 83-year-old woman had died.