Five more COVID deaths over 3 days

St. Vincent and the Grenadines recorded five COVID-19 deaths between Saturday, Oct. 2 and today, Monday, Oct. 4, bringing the total to 33 the total number of deaths from the virus in the country.

Twenty-one of those deaths have occurred since Sept. 9.

Further, the number of persons in hospital as a result of COVID-19 now stands at 49 – four more than when the last update was issued on Friday. Five of them are fully vaccinated.

The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) said on Monday that all five deceased were unvaccinated.

They are:

— a 74-year-old female who tested positive for COVID-19 on admission to the COVID-19 ward at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Saturday, Oct. 2, died of COVID pneumonia during the afternoon of the same day;

— a 66-year-old female who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 26 and died at home of complications of COVID-19 on Saturday;

— a 39-year-old female who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 28  and died on Sunday, Oct. 3 of COVID-19 pneumonia;

— a 54-year-old male with pre-existing conditions who tested positive for COVID-19 on admission to the COVID-19 ward at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Sept. 27 and died of a COVID-19 pneumonia on Sunday; and,  

— a 56-year-old female who tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, Oct. 1, was admitted to the COVID-19 ward at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Sunday, and died of COVID-19 pneumonia today (Monday).

Meanwhile, NEMO said that 100 COVID-19 positive cases were reported from 536 samples processed last Friday, resulting in a positivity of 18.7%.

Fourteen cases were detected on exit screening and all other cases are contacts of known positive cases and persons seeking care.

Twenty patients admitted for COVID-19 at the Argyle Isolation Facility. Eighteen are unvaccinated and two patients are fully vaccinated. Twenty-nine patients are admitted to the COVID-19 wards at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital. Twenty-six are unvaccinated and three patients are fully vaccinated.

NEMO said that 24 new recoveries were noted over the reporting period, leaving 1,221 active cases.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 3,776 cases of COVID-19 and 2,522 recoveries have been recorded since March 2020.

NEMO said:

“In view of the confirmed presence of the Delta, Mu and Gamma variants in the community and the significant increase in the number of new infections, transmission, severe COVID-19 disease and deaths, strict enforcement and compliance with all protocols and recommendations by everyone is strongly recommended. The correct and consistent use of masks, avoidance of crowds, physical distancing, proper hand sanitising and immunisation with available vaccines have all been proven to significantly reduce the risk of being infected, getting sick and or dying from the COVID-19 virus.”