Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 21, 2021 (SKNIS): St. Kitts and Nevis has recorded its second COVID-19 related death, as health authorities work to slow the transmission of the deadly virus.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws, shared the news on Monday (June 21, 2021) during a briefing by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) at the NEMA Conference Room.
“There are two COVID-19-related deaths,” said Dr. Laws. “The first was announced last week Thursday, June 17. The second occurred within the last 24 hours.”
The Chief Medical Officer provided an overview of the current transmission of cases dating back to May 19, 2021, when a national without a travel history was first diagnosed with the Novel Coronavirus. Figures show that since May 19, 2021, 305 positive cases have been confirmed while 30 persons have recovered leaving 273 active cases. There were 21 hospitalizations in total. Ten patients have since been discharged leaving nine persons on the COVID-19 ward at the Joseph N. France General Hospital.
“Most of the recent cases, they fall within the age band 20 to 49 years,” Dr. Laws added, noting, however, that the actual range starts from zero (months old infant) to above 80 years.
Health officials are continuing a robust contact tracing and testing programme to break the second wave of the virus that has spread within the community. As of June 20, 2021, figures show that 2,108 persons were interviewed and placed in self-quarantine. Since then, 1,317 persons were cleared and released from self-quarantine.
“To date, we have contained the outbreak to a degree,” Dr. Laws indicated. “Just through our contact tracing process alone, we have picked up those positive contacts, who if we weren’t contact tracing, they would have passed on the virus to other contacts and our numbers may have been like 3 or 4 times what they are right now. We will continue our contact tracing process.”
As for testing, the Chief Medical Officer said 7,417 samples were processed between May 19 and June 19, 2021. The figure represents 15.72 percent of the population.
The senior health officials reiterated the call for persons above the age of 18 years who can be vaccinated to go and get a jab. She said that everyone must also practice the non-pharmaceutical measures of wearing face masks in public spaces, maintaining a physical distance of 6 feet or more from others, and frequently sanitizing hands and high touch surfaces.
-30-