The total number of active COVID-19 cases in St. Vincent and the Grenadines increased to 419, on Monday, with the confirmation of 46 new cases.
With the new cases, the country has now recorded 540 cases of the viral illness, which has resulted in two deaths locally.
The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) said 44 of the new cases are nationals with no history of recent travel.
One case is a non-national who travelled from Germany and another from Brazil, both of whom arrived with negative results and tested positive subsequently.
There are now 402 local cases of COVID-19 under investigation, NEMO said, referring to the cases that have been detected since Dec. 28 among nationals with no recent travel history.
NEMO said that the cases comprise residents from throughout the country, who have been linked to various types of clusters including work sites, churches and private parties.
So far, 119 of the 540 persons to test positive since March 11, 2020 have recovered from their illness.
Monday’s statement offered no updates on the number of persons in care as a result of the illness.
SVG took nine months to record its first 100 cases, reaching that milestone on Dec. 17. However, one month later, the country was up to its 500th case.
NEMO said that all positive cases would continue to be isolated until cleared after 14 symptom-free days and a negative PCR test result.
Persons in quarantine awaiting their results must strictly adhere to the requirements including not leaving their homes until cleared by their negative test results.
Persons with flu-like symptoms and close contacts of confirmed positive cases should seek health care at the following district health centres, which will offer only COVID-19 related services:
1. Chateaubelair Health District — Coulls Hill Health Centre
2. Pembroke Health District — Layou Health Centre
3. Kingstown Health District — Kingstown Health Centre
4. Calliaqua Health District — Calliaqua Health Centre
5. Cedars Health District — Biabou Health Centre
6. Marriaqua Health District — Levi Latham Health Complex
7. Georgetown Health District — Georgetown Health Centre & Sandy Bay Health Centre
NEMO said that all remaining community health facilities on the mainland will continue to offer routine primary health care services.
The Stubbs Polyclinic and the Buccament Polyclinic will, in addition to their routine services, offer exit screenings by appointments.
The health facilities in the Northern and Southern Grenadines will offer both routine and COVID-19 services as required.
One from Brazil where they have one of the more transmissible new variants of the virus!. Time to shut down!