Public Health Specialist, Dr. Sheena Moosa has said that a new variant of coronavirus has been discovered in the Maldives.

Speaking during a press conference by the HEOC, Dr. Sheena said that while the number of new cases has been increasing since December, this increase was fueled by a new COVID variant in the Maldives paired with the careless following of health guidelines.

Dr. Sheena said that about 30% of new cases have been caused by the new variant, which might have been present in society for about six weeks.

She further stressed that the number of people following safety guidelines has decreased greatly following the ease of restrictions after the second wave.

The doctor also highlighted that the variant will be causing rapid spread of the virus now, at a rate of 1 infected person passing the virus onto five different people as opposed to two before.