Male, May 6 (IANS): The Maldives' Health Emergency Operation Center (HEOC) has declared that the island nation is experiencing the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic as daily infections broke the local record for four consecutive days, local media reported on Thursday.

HEOC member Mohammed Ali on Wednesday said that a recent surge in infections has increased the chances for a spread of new variants, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) data showed that the record for new daily cases was broken for the fourth day.

A total of 734 new cases were detected on Wednesday, raising the total number of infections to 32,665.

Of these new infections, 540 were detected in the capital region of Greater Male, while the remaining were largely in inhabited islands.

The death toll currently stood at 74.

Ali was quoted by state-owned PCM News as saying that all ICU beds in the DH-11 Facility of Dharumavantha Hospital are currently occupied.

He said there was a shortage of healthcare workers to meet the needs of an increasing number of patients.