Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced on Wednesday that a COVID-19 patient admitted at the health center in ADh. Dhangethi has passed away.    
HPA identified the deceased as a 50-year-old Maldivian female.    
She passed away at 12:24 am on Wednesday. 
“This is the 272nd COVID-19 death in the Maldives,” confirmed HPA in a tweet.   
It marks the first COVID-19 death in Dhangethi, and the eighth death nation-wide in January.    
Maldives is currently battling a surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the new and more contagious omicron variant. Health experts expect the cases to peak by the end of January or beginning of February. 
Maldives has 122,777 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 2,609 new cases recorded on Tuesday. 105,827 patients have since recovered.        
The country currently has 16,666 active cases. 57 of the patients are hospitalized.