by Devonne Cornelius
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Premier and Senior Minister of Health on Nevis Mark Brantley has provided a comprehensive breakdown of the COVID-19 situation on the island since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 and the recent outbreak when health officials confirmed the Lambda variant in the federation.
“As of today[August 26] some 101 have tested positive. We have had 22 recoveries and therefore we have now 79 active cases on the island of Nevis. These 79 active cases have really come about since late June and early August,” Brantley said, adding that “we’ve had no deaths but on my way here I was advised that regrettably we have one hospitalization due to COVID-19. This is our first hospitalization and we pray that this individual may have a speedy recovery”.
Premier Brantley was speaking at his press conference on Thursday, August 26, when he provided the data to members of the media.
In providing more details about the COVID-19 situation on Nevis, the Senior Health Minister said three people from an establishment tested positive between August 14 to 16. “It was suspected that there may be a cluster of positive cases at that organization,” he said, adding that “the establishment was closed by our authorities and all remaining employees were quarantined and tested.”
“A total of 73 tests were done between August 14 and 18 and that yielded 18 positive cases with 55 people being negative. All cases were isolated and contact tracing commenced immediately. 59 contacts of the positive cases were identified of which 17 are positive. Therefore, there are 35 cases that can be directly linked to a single establishment on the island of Nevis”.
Forty-eight people who have no identified link with the unnamed establishment have since tested positive for COVID-19. Since August 14, two in-bound travelers have tested positive for the virus. People ranging from the age of 18 months to 66 years old have tested positive for COVID-19 on Nevis.
“As of yesterday[August 25] we had 68 active cases and 49 of those were not vaccinated and 19 were vaccinated. I do not have the breakdown for the 11 that were reported for today[August 26]. But of the 11 cases, eight were adults and three were children. Thus far we have had 12 children who have been infected with COVID-19 on Nevis.”
The Ministry of Health on Nevis has tested 5,582 people since the pandemic began in March 2020.
