Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 18, 2021 (SKNIS): Health authorities in St. Kitts and Nevis are strongly encouraging citizens and residents to remain vigilant against the COVID-19 virus as the number of confirmed cases is rising daily.
Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, Medical Chief of Staff of the Joseph N. France General Hospital, gave updated figures of the local COVID-19 situation on the August 17thedition of Leadership Matters.
He reported that the Federation has now recorded 708 cases to date, with 590 recoveries, 115 active cases, three deaths and six persons currently hospitalized.
“We continue to report daily positive cases and are beginning to see the numbers climbing as complacency sets in,” he stated. “We had 13 new cases on Saturday, 26 on Monday, and now 27 today (Tuesday) after recording daily low single digits positives and sometimes zero since the lockdown.
The majority of the recent cases were detected via the Ministry of Health’s robust contact tracing system. They were picked up from social gatherings and the early childhood school sector.
“This shows that every time our people let their guard down, the virus surges,” Dr. Wilkinson added.
The Medical Chief of Staff assured that health officials and the government will continue to work assiduously to contain the deadly virus.
“Containing the virus will require us to protect as many persons as possible with the best tool available to us. That tool is the vaccine, and with more than 4.72 billion doses already administered globally, leading to a significant decrease of hospitalizations and death from COVID-19, we know that it works.” Dr. Wilkinson indicated.
He encouraged everyone who can receive a jab of a COVID-19 vaccine to do so to boost the population immunity threshold. Dr. Wilkinson added that the public education campaign and one-on-one engagements would continue to ensure that persons are armed with the latest scientific information to inform their decision.
