Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 21, 2021 (SKNIS): Health authorities in St. Kitts and Nevis are successfully managing the third wave of COVID-19 as statistics show a decrease in the number of positive cases and a significant increase in the number of recoveries.
At Tuesday’s edition (October 20) of the National Emergency Operations Centre COVID-19 Briefing, Medical Chief of Staff of the Joseph N. France General Hospital, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson cited statistics that indicated the Federation is on the back end of the third wave.
It showed that from October 13 to 19, there were 123 new cases with 682 recoveries. The week prior, October 06 to 12, there were 172 new cases with 312 recoveries. He also presented a graph that indicated high spikes in the number of cases from August 01 to October 19 that sometimes numbered in the thirties and forties. Recent daily counts have recorded single digits.
In fact, figures at the close of business day on Wednesday, October 20, show that there were two confirmed cases in the last 24 hours. Active cases stood at 388 while there were 2,182 recovered cases.
“This is a sign that we are turning the curve and we are headed in the right direction,” Dr. Wilkinson stated.
The Vaccination Report for October 20, 2021, also highlighted the success of the Roll Up to Roll Out campaign. It revealed that a total of 49,774 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the twin-island Federation. The initial goal was to vaccinate a minimum of 33,037 adults. Of that number, 76.3 percent of adults have had a first jab of the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, while 71.7 percent have gotten their second jab. Meanwhile, health authorities have set a goal of vaccinating 4,800 children between the ages of 12 and 17 years. To date, 11.1 percent had the first dose, while 7.2 percent have completed the two-shot regimen of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Dr. Wilkinson noted that the high vaccination rate is a major milestone as the Federation grapples with COVID-19 as it continues to wreak havoc in the health and economic sectors around the world.
“I want to again make the appeal to the people of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Early on this year, we (St. Kitts and Nevis) were recognized as the nation with the lowest risk of COVID-19 in this part of the hemisphere and we can again get that recognition once we continue to increase the vaccination coverage and to use the non-pharmaceuticals to protect us,” he stated.
