PARAMARIBO, Suriname (CMC) — Suriname recorded its first death from the coronavirus (COVID-19) for more than a week as two other Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries reported deaths and other countries an increase in the number of positive cases from the virus.
The Ministry of Health confirmed that one person has died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 110. The Dutch-speaking Caricom country had last recorded a death 11 days ago and so far this month, there have been six fatalities.
The authorities gave no details on the latest death, but said that with 10 new infections, the country now has 5,180 positive cases including 33 active ones.
“In the past 24 hours, five people were declared cured, the total was therefore 5,037. Currently there are 18 people in hospitals, five in the intensive care unit, 19 positives in isolation and 365 non-positives in quarantine,” the authorities added.
Trinidad and Tobago also recorded a COVID-19 death over the past 24 hours, with the health authorities saying that there were also 24 new cases of the virus.
The Ministry of Health reported that there are 1,303 active cases and there are now 106 deaths.
Overall there have been 5,535 cases and 4,126 patients have recovered. There are 62 patients in hospitals and 38 in step-down facilities. State quarantine facilities are holding 268 people and there are 1,203 in self-isolation.
The authorities in Belize say that a male in his 70’s is the latest casualty of the virus, bringing the death toll in the Central American Caricom country to 51.
The statement issued by the Office of Director of Health Services, notes that a total of 246 samples were processed with 55 new cases identified for a positivity rate of 22.4 per cent.
It reported also 70 recoveries.
“We also have another death to report, this is in a male in his 70s from Orange Walk (and), he was swabbed post-mortem.”
Belize now has 3,200 confirmed positive cases with 118 active being active.
In the Bahamas, the authorities reported 56 new cases pushing the total to 6,466. There are 2,307 active cases.
New Providence continues to lead the family of islands with the most cases, registering 4.970, followed by Grand Bahamas with 734 and Abaco with 168..
The authorities said that the total number of deaths is 132 and 14 are under investigation. There are 109 people hospitalised, eight in Intensive Care Unit.
In Guyana, the Ministry of Health has recorded two new COVID-19 cases after 72 tests, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4, 026. The new cases were recorded in Region Four.
The authorities said that there are 15 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit, 108 in institutional isolation and 775 in home isolation.
To date, 119 persons have died and 3,009 have recovered.
Three visitors to Barbados were confirmed with COVID-19. The authorities have identified them as a female, who arrived on British Airways on October 22, tested positive for the viral illness after her second test last Friday.
Two males, 38 and 21, arrived on American Airlines on October 15, and were retested on October 16. Their cases were under investigation until last Friday when they were confirmed with the viral illness.
Head of Isolation Facilities, Dr Corey Forde, said that there are instances when it is not immediately clear from the test results, whether a case is new or whether the person may have been previously infected and is now in the clearance phase of the disease.
He said the only way to confirm this was to place the patients in isolation and observe them for a period of time to track the progression, and this is what was done in the case of the two male visitors and a number of previous cases.
Meanwhile, no-one was discharged from the isolation facility. There are now 15 people in isolation. Of the 233 confirmed cases to date, 210 people have recovered.
