A total of 344 people – 195 males and 149 females – tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, February 17, from the 1,427 tests conducted by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory.
The cases comprised 54 persons under the age of 18, and 290 who were 18 years and older. There were 126 people in isolation facilities, while 4,334 were in home isolation. As at February 17, the virus had claimed 307 lives.
The public health laboratory has carried out 574,219 tests since February 2020, and recorded 53,253 COVID-19 cases (24,720 males and 28,533 females).
Under the National Vaccination Programme for COVID-19, the total number of persons with at least one dose is 159,747 (69.9 per cent of the eligible population).
The total number of fully vaccinated persons is 148,787 (54.9 per cent of the total population or 65.1 per cent of the eligible population). The eligible population represents those persons who are 12 years and older.