BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — The death toll from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the Caribbean increased on Tuesday, as three Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries registered deaths from the virus that has so far killed 966,000 people and infected 31.4 million others globally since last December.
The latest death in Guyana occurred on Monday evening when a 57 -year-old woman from Region One succumbed while receiving care at a medical facility.
The death toll now stands at 67. Earlier on Monday, a 67-year-old man, also from Region One, died while receiving treatment.
Meanwhile, a screening campaign for COVID-19 at the Lusignan Prison has returned 120 positive cases from 200 tests.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said the ministry had launched the campaign following the discovery of two positive cases at the facility last week.
He said the infected prisoners “are no longer in the general population”.
“They are separate from the other persons in the prison. We are going to observe them to see whether or not they develop any further signs and symptoms,” Dr Anthony said, adding that the prisoners will be discharged from isolation once they show no COVID-19 symptoms, after approximately two weeks.
In the Bahamas, the Ministry of Health reported that there were 48 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, with the total number of cases now standing at 3,418 with 1,542 of them active. It said 41 of the new cases were in New Providence, four were in Abaco, one was in Grand Bahama, one was in Long Island and one was in Andros.
The authorities said that a 64-year-old man of New Providence succumbed to the virus, bringing the death toll to 75. They said there are now 21 deaths under investigation.
In Suriname, the 17 infections in the past 24 hours have pushed the total to 4, 740 with 118 active cases.
The authorities said that the capital, Paramaribo registered the highest number of new cases, 14, (and that overall, 4,525 people have been healed, 37 of them in the past 24 hours. The number of deaths remains at 97.
In Belize, a total of 206 tests were conducted Monday, resulting in eight new cases.
The country’s total number of positive cases is 1, 635 with 647 being active. Belize has recorded 21 deaths since the first case in March.
“Two patients remained ventilated in ICU. We have 49 recovered cases today, our active cases now stand at 39.6 per cent of the total number of identified cases,” the authorities added.
Haiti has recorded no new deaths from the virus over the past 24 hours, leaving the tally at 221.
But there were 19 new cases, the Ministry of Public Health reported, pushing the total to 8, 619, of which 2, 035 are active
Trinidad and Tobago registered 18 new cases, pushing its total to 3,945 with 2,078 being active. The death toll remains at 65