The number of people who have died from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Suriname reached 60 on Monday evening after the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country recorded two more deaths including that of Vergillio Rebin, the Deputy Director of Administrative Services at the Ministry of the Interior.
The authorities said that 25 people tested positive for the virus over the past 24 hours, bringing the number of active cases to 814 out of a total of 3,632.
They said there are 190 people in the hospitals and 21 in Intensive Care Units. Seventy civilians have been cured in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 3,632. There are currently 638 positives in isolation and 606 people in quarantine, who are not positive.
Meanwhile, the authorities have expressed their disapproval at “the distribution of a video and false reports regarding an incident in the isolation tent of the hospital”, saying they are “outraged” that the person in question, was said to have died.
“It is very regrettable that malicious people try to spread panic, without regard for Mrs. K.’s family, friends and acquaintances,” the statement said, noting that the woman in question has had a long history of having an underlying condition.
The authorities said that she was given painkillers and while the nurses were making efforts to have her admitted to hospital, she suffered another bout of the pain.
This was recorded by a fellow patient with a mobile phone and distributed via social media.
“It is unfortunate that these video recordings have caused damage by misinterpretation, compromising the privacy of fellow patients, disgracing the nurses and disgracing or denouncing Wanica Regional Hospital.
“Shortly after her pain attack, Mrs. K. was transferred to the ward house where she receives the necessary care. That is also the case with the other patients”, the authorities said.
Meanwhile, the government is being urged to consider more than a weekend lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.
“It is only a small delay in the number of infections. Increases in hospitalization and deaths will not be significantly affected by a one- or two-day lockdown. To actually contain the spread, the government would equate a lockdown to the incubation period of the virus,” said scientist, Max Huisden.
“An average of 14 days is used as the incubation period, but efficient would be two to three weeks,” he told the Ware Tijd newspaper.
In the Bahamas, the Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr. Merceline Dahl-Regis, said that the country has recorded 14 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.
“Regrettably, two additional deaths have been confirmed. This brings the total number of COVID-19-related deaths to 46. This increase in the number of deaths includes deaths currently under investigation,” Dr. Dahl-Regis added.
“The country now has a total of 1798 confirmed cases of COVID-19. This includes 69 confirmed cases reported on Sunday the 23rd of August,” she said, noting a decrease in the number of confirmed cases due to the removal of duplicate cases and improved data management.
“To date there are 634 recovered cases and 1115 active cases; 87 cases are currently in hospital. A total of 56 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre in New Providence. Of that number, 23 are receiving hospital level care,” the Special Advisor said, adding that health officials are implementing a strategy to increase hospital bed capacity.
She said that to date, a total of 9821 tests have been completed; 1089 contacts are in quarantine and 937 have been discharged; 939 are in home isolation.
“The sharp increase in the number of samples to be tested strained the human resources and testing capacity at the lab. In this second wave the number of tests has increased significantly to more than 300 samples daily.”
“COVID-19 testing is now being carried out at the Princess Margaret Hospital’s microbiology lab. COVID-19 testing will also soon be possible at the South Beach Health Centre on New Providence and at the lab on Grand Bahama. Turnaround time for results will be monitored. It is anticipated that the turnaround time will not exceed 36 hours.” she added.
In Haiti, the Ministry of Public Health said 28 new cases have been confirmed, bringing the total to 8,110 cases, since the first case was detected on March 19.
The number of deaths remain at 196, with the number of active cases being 2, 290.
The authorities said that 5,624 people have been healed of the virus and that the number of suspected cases is 22,919.
CMC
