Barbados worried about new cluster of COVID cases

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Barbados is reporting a new cluster of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases as the island recorded 48 deaths and more than 4,390 confirmed cases linked to the virus since March last year.

Health and Wellness Minister Jeffrey Bostic, speaking at the latest COVID-19 update on Sunday, said that the cluster has come as the island had been reporting reduced COVID-19 cases in recent days.

“On Thursday we had one case, and this case yielded another 10 positives the following day as a result of the contact tracing. Once we had those figures and the information related to positive cases, it was quite clear to the staff of the Ministry of Health and Wellness that this was a potential problem,” Bostic said.

“These cases involve and include persons who would have done some bar-hopping at some bars within the city of Bridgetown and the general St Michael area, and because of the nature of those visits at those bars, we knew we had to move very fast to be able to contain a spread,” he said.

Bostic said that contact-tracing efforts were currently ongoing to reach all primary and secondary contacts of persons who would have frequented those bars over the last few weeks.

He urged Barbadians to get vaccinated and to follow the necessary protocols aimed at reducing the spread of the vaccine.

As of July 31, public-health officials have administered 99,695 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines as part of the National Vaccination Programme. A total of 76,247 persons have received second doses and are fully vaccinated. These individuals represent 28.1 per cent of the population.

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