28-year-old dies of COVID, 245 new cases in Jamaica

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has advised that another COVID-19-positive patient has died in Jamaica.

The deceased is a 28-year-old female from St James.

At the same time, in the last 24 hours, the country recorded 245 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, the largest one-day increase on record. These bring the total cases on record for the island to 2,357.

Of the newly confirmed cases, 116 are females and 100 are males with ages ranging from two weeks to 90 years. The sex classification for 29 of the new cases are still being investigated, the ministry said.

The cases were recorded in Kingston & St Andrew (92), St Catherine (62), St James (27), St Thomas (15), Portland (9), St Ann (8), Clarendon (8), Manchester (7), St Elizabeth (6), Hanover (5), St Mary (4), Trelawny (1) and Westmoreland (1).

Of the new cases, 12 are contacts of confirmed cases, eight are imported and the remaining 225 cases are under investigation, the ministry said.

The country is now managing 1,374 (57.1 per cent) active cases across the island, including 14 moderately ill patients and four critically ill patients. Some 71 cases recorded in Jamaica have returned to their countries of origin. Recoveries from COVID-19 remain at 890 persons (42.1 per cent recovery rate). Twenty-one persons have died from the virus.

Jamaica now has 455 imported cases; 606 cases that are contacts of confirmed cases; 212 local transmission cases not epidemiologically linked; 236 related to the workplace cluster in St Catherine and 848 cases under investigation.

Females account for 59 per cent (1,284) of all confirmed cases, while the remaining 41 per cent (1,044) are males. They range in age from 13 days to 97 years.

Eight persons of interest are in state quarantine while some 28,425 persons of interest are quarantined at home.

The ministry, in its statement, said it is urging everyone to be vigilant in the practice of infection prevention and control measures to guard against the spread of COVID-19, including the frequent washing of hands with soap and water; maintaining the prescribed six-feet physical distance from others; and wearing a mask when in public. Visitors and returning residents are reminded that they must comply with quarantine orders.