The Ministry of Health informed the nation on Wednesday evening that the total number of Covid-19 Positive cases in Dominica stands at 13; 5 males and 8 females with ages from 4 to 86 years. 3 of the active cases are children below 10 years. All cases are asymptomatic and have been admitted at the St.James Isolation Unit in Portsmouth.
National Epidemiologist Dr.Shaluddin Ahmed explained that there is a Grandfond cluster of 11 cases, 6 imported and 5 local. He added that another imported case was detected through Day 5 testing in quarantine.
71 primary contacts have been identified through contact tracing and tested through PCR testing and all except 5 were negative. The individuals will be re tested after 5 days. Further 174 contacts were traced and tested using Rapid Antigen testing and were all negative.
Dr. Ahmed highlighted some lesson learned from the recent BVI surge in Covid-19 cases.
He said 27 hospitalized on July 17 in the BVI and 26 of those persons were unvaccinated. While 8 were admitted to the emergency room, 2 of whom died. 5 persosn were admitted to the ICU and 3 died, 13 were admitted to the Covid-19 ward and 8 died.
Ahmed says, “Vaccination practically eliminates severe disease, hospitalizations and death. It reduces contracting the disease 60-90% and reduces the transmission by 75%. The longer we wait to get vaccinated the higher the chance of giving the virus time to mutate and produce a new Variant. This new variant may render all vaccines useless, hence I urge all to get vaccinated.
Presently, Dominica has successfully vaccinated 45% of the adult population or 27% of the total population.
