Bahamas, Suriname and Jamaica record COVID deaths

The Bahamas, Suriname and Jamaica all recorded deaths from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic over the past 24 hours (Aug 26) with Barbados recording three new positive cases.

The Ministry of Health in Nassau said that 15 additional confirmed cases were recorded pushing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,813.

New Providence continues to head the number of cases among the archipelago with 1,049 cases followed by Grand Bahamas with 525 and 66 and 53 in Abaco and Bimini respectively.

The Ministry of Health also confirmed that there were two deaths and that “details about these deaths will be released once they have been properly classified.

“Hence, the death toll currently stands at 48.  Also, one death has been classified as a confirmed non-COVID related death. Hence, non-COVID related deaths now tally at six,” the Ministry added.

The authorities in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country of Suriname, said that one person died over the past 24 hours pushing the death toll to 61.

They said 66 new COVID -19 infections were added from the 257 swabs collected, bringing to a total of 3,698 people tested positive; 819 of whom are considered to be active cases.

There are 20 people in the intensive-care wards. The hospitals accommodate 166 patients. 2,818 civilians have been healed from the coronavirus, including 60 in the past 24 hours. The number of people who are positive and in isolation is 655. On the other hand, there are 608 civilians who are not positive in quarantine,” the Ministry of Health said, adding that passengers who have been arriving from the Netherlands and Curacao have been placed in ‘home quarantine’.

‘The department and the Bureau for Public Health Care (BOG) have decided to do so because of the low COVID-19 transmission in the Netherlands and Curaçao in recent weeks, “which means that the chance of import cases is virtually nil.”

The Ministry said that the exemption from quarantine only applies to passengers who have spent 14 consecutive days in the Netherlands or Curaçao before departure for Suriname.

“Persons who have been in the Netherlands or on Curaçao for less than 14 days and who are on their way to Suriname, will have to go into (home) quarantine by the BOG according to an adapted protocol.”

Jamaican health authorities are confirming that three persons died of the virus over the past 24 hours.

They said the ages of those who have fallen victim to the virus are between 70 and 89 years old and that the total deaths from COVID-19 now stands at19.

Jamaica also recorded 120 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 1,732, while there have been 840 recoveries.

The ages of the new cases range from 2 to 91 years.  The island has 801 active cases with 71 of the cases recorded on the island have returned to their countries of origin. Jamaica now has 441 imported cases.

Barbados is reporting that three visitors, two British and a Colombian, are the latest COVID-19-positive cases here.

The British, a five-year-old male and a 38-year-old male, are known contacts of an earlier case confirmed on August 18, while the 31-year-old Colombian male visitor tested positive on arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport earlier this week. The authorities said that there are now 164 confirmed cases and 25 people in isolation.