...Eight-month-old diagnosed in Castries with the virus
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - HEALTH officials in St. Lucia and Barbados are still trying to grapple with the growing number of COVID-19 cases in their territories as they continue to see a spike in numbers.
In Castries, over the weekend, there were a total of 55 confirmed cases, including an eight-month-old child.
Reports from the Ministry of Health in St. Lucia indicated that on Friday (Jan. 8) the territory recorded 12 news cases of which all were nationals, ranging in ages from eight months old to 47 years.
Those 12 positives were from a sample of 210 that were tested, the Ministry of Health announced.
The 12 people who were positive were linked to five areas of the island: Castries, Gros-Islet, Micoud, Anse La Raye and Babonneau Districts.
One day later, a 43-year-old male foreign national, who entered the island and was placed in isolation, was amongst a total of 43 new cases.
The Ministry pinpointed eight locations in which the nationals are residing: Dennery, Castries, Gros-Islet, Micoud, Anse La Raye, Choiseul, Babonneau and Laborie Districts.
Health officials are now seeking to contact trace to find the linkage with any other individuals who were in direct contact with those persons.
Over in Barbados, the fallout from the Bus Crawl held in December is still being felt as the territory recorded 70 cases over the weekend.
Health authorities said the new cases, which account for both locals and visitors, were among 1,198 tests conducted by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory.
In providing a breakdown of the information, health officials said 19 were women and 51 are men.
A further cluster was discovered at the island’s largest penitentiary, which has already been grappling with the outbreak.
Of the 70 new cases, 33 persons from Dodds returned positive results with 31 being male inmates and two male Prison Officers.
Since the island recorded its large cluster outbreak linked to a Prison Officer moonlighting and providing security services at one of the quarantine facilities, the prison facility has been one of the hardest hit institutions on the island.
Figures show that there were 225 people at the facility who were infected by the virus – 58 staff members and 167 inmates.
Concerns were expressed recently in Bridgetown about the possibility of the new strain of the virus being present on the island, which could be the cause of the large outbreak.
Unlike the two islands, St. Kitts and Nevis do not currently have a community spread of the virus, with there being only three active cases.
