BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - TERRITORIES across the region are seeing increasing cases of COVID-19, with several of them having cluster cases, raising alarm bells within the tourism industry.
In Grenada, health officials are concerned with a cluster of 26 cases that were uncovered, including reports that management of a hotel has placed all of their staff under quarantine at the facility
In a statement, Grenada’s Minister of Health disclosed that a cluster of 26 positive COVID-19 cases has been diagnosed, originating from the Sandals Resort.
Health officials noted that those cases include guests and employees, as well as their contacts.
“The discovery was made following proactive testing of employees and guests on Friday and Saturday, as part of the Ministry's continuous testing of frontline staff in sectors directly related to tourism, travel and health,” the Ministry said in a statement Sunday.
Against that backdrop, it was revealed that the Sandals Resort has now been deemed to be “a place of screening and assessment”.
The Ministry of Health noted yesterday (Dec. 13) that “entire households related to the confirmed cases have also been quarantined, and contact tracers are actively working to source other potentially exposed people in other areas of public life and activity”.
In a press conference yesterday, Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shawn Charles explained that as of Thursday there were 43 confirmed cases of the virus, and by Friday there were an additional two confirmed cases.
Dr. Charles revealed that one was a female passenger who travelled from the United States and the other was a local female who is employed at a hotel in the south of the island.
“Follow-up testing of contacts was undertaken by the health team...a total of 26 new cases of COVID-19 infections were identified. Thirteen of these cases were close contacts of family contacts of case number 44 which was one of the cases identified the day before. Three staff members and nine guests at a hotel in the south and one guest at another hotel,” the Acting CMO disclosed.
That brings to 30 the number of active cases on the island.
Over in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Ministry of Health there reported four new cases, which were imported.
According to the National Emergency Management Organisation, three of the four cases are visitors from the United Kingdom and the fourth is a returning national from Canada.
The three UK visitors reportedly tested negative twice, once upon entry and once after the fifth day.
According to media reports, the returning national tested negative upon entry but returned a positive test on day five.
“The new cases detected during the nine (9) to fourteen (14) day quarantine period reinforce the importance of complying strictly with the rules of quarantine for the entire period by all travelers,” the Management Organisation said.
In Kingston, Jamaica, the Ministry of Health recently recorded 66 new confirmed cases. Down south in Guyana, the cases continue to climb as the Government activated the National Vaccine Taskforce to prepare for a roll of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Bahamas this morning reported 15 new confirmed cases to go with an additional 11 reported over the week, while in Trinidad and Tobago the numbers also continue to climb.
