Declining COVID-19 cases because of the successful management and control of the illness and related variants have begun to pave the way for Barbados to get its economic and social activity back on track.
Minister of Health and Wellness, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, divulged this today as he joined Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, at Ilaro Court, to update the nation on Barbados’ response to the pandemic over the last three to four months.
In a brief snapshot, Minister Bostic noted that from March 19 to April 18, the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory had conducted 13,439 tests, and of this figure, 272 persons were positive.
He said from April 19 to May 18, 15,001 tests were conducted of which 191 persons proved positive, while from May 19 to June 18, there were 15,522 tests with 66 positives. “This gives us a total for the last three months or so of 43,962 tests with 529 positive cases,” he said.
While noting that the last date Barbados recorded double digits on a single day was May 5, when there were 14 positive cases, he stressed: “Since then, up to this time, we have had about just over six weeks of single digit cases on a daily basis. So, this would clearly indicate to you that all of our figures have been declining and this obviously is a good sign for the country.”
Adding that on March 19, the country would have administered about 60,206 first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, he revealed that by June 18, that figure stood at 91,569 first doses, while 65,395 persons were now fully vaccinated.
However, the Health Minister noted the period was not without some challenges. He reminded the nation that there were COVID-19 cases at some private and public secondary schools, the Psychiatric Hospital, among security staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and within some family clusters.
Pleased that his Ministry was able to overcome this, he commended the health sector and all frontline workers in the country, stressing that it also was as a result of the cooperation and collaboration that they received from the average Barbadian.
He said: “So, basically we have been doing quite well and that is because of the collective effort of all persons concerned. And, so the Ministry of Health, … the public health measures that we implement from time to time, how we adapt those measures or how we lift the restrictions depend a lot on the continuous situational assessment that we conduct, and that assessment is based on the intensity of transmission in the country against the capacity of our country to be able to respond. And, we also take into account the social impact on the society and on individuals when we are making these decisions.”