Article first appeared in Barbados Today on
February 10, 2021
The COVID-19 death toll rose to 20 Tuesday as health authorities reported the deaths of a 67-year old man and a 53-year-old woman.
The man died at the Enmore isolation unit and the woman died at the Harrison Point coronavirus hospital. Both patients had a history of chronic non-communicable diseases, the health ministry said. They were not specified.
Health Minister Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic cautioned Barbadians to be aware of the danger of chronic diseases while stressing that COVID-19 was not only attacking the elderly.
He said: “Those who are paying attention to these matters would have noticed that whereas before, the deaths from the virus were occurring amongst senior citizens, in the last few weeks persons in their 40s, 50s and 60s have succumbed to COVID. This underscores the point that persons of every age are vulnerable to this disease.
“Furthermore, in each case, chronic non-communicable diseases have been a complicating factor and continue to point to these comorbidities as a risk factor for poor outcomes.”
In its latest update, the Ministry of Health said there were 82 new cases of COVID-19 recorded on Monday.
It explained that these cases included positive results from January 29 to 31.
In a Government press release, the health ministry explained: “Situations like this may occur occasionally as the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory continues to try to clear the backlog created due to the use of manual extraction in the processing of samples. The Ministry of Health and Wellness is taking measures to have this issue rectified in the short term with the automated extractor reagent expected to arrive within a week.”
The laboratory conducted 545 tests yesterday and a total of 43 people recovered and were discharged from isolation. This brings the number of active cases in Barbados to 324.
The 82 positive cases consist of 45 women and 37 men. Nine of them had already been at the Harrison Point isolation facility undergoing assessment to determine whether their positive PCR test result showed that they were in fact newly positive, or whether they had COVID-19 in the past and were no longer infectious.
The 73 other cases include 69 Barbadians and three non-nationals.
The total number of people diagnosed with the virus at Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds increased to 363 after one male inmate tested positive for COVID-19. But the majority of these cases have recovered and only four inmates remain in isolation.
To date, Barbados has recorded 1,814 confirmed cases – 763 females, 1,051 males – and 1,470 people have recovered.
The public health laboratory has completed 108,831 tests since last February. (BT/PR)
Read the e-paper at Barbados Today.
