Barbados hits over 1,000 coronavirus cases
Gavin Riley / Our Today
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Barbados looked to start 2021 in the same fashion it ended 2020: keeping the ravages of a pandemic at bay, but just two weeks into the new year, the island’s novel coronavirus caseload (COVID-19) has skyrocketed.
With 39 new cases confirmed on Wednesday (January 13), the national tally in Barbados stands at 1,007—a drastic U-turn from the 383 cases confirmed as at December 31.
Of that number, 535 cases are active infections, while recoveries also saw a similar spike to 465. The last standing statistic is the Barbadian death toll, which remains at seven.
According to data from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the cluster at the Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP), Dodds accounts for 295, or 55 per cent, of the CARICOM island’s active cases. More worryingly, 232 of the cases confirmed at the HMP Dodds are male inmates.
There is a somewhat certain expectation that Prime Minister Mia Mottley will extend the nightly curfew as the measure, initially introduced for a two-week period, comes to an end on Thursday, January 14.
Since first confirming a case of COVID-19 back in March 2020, the Best-dos Santos public health laboratory has completed 85,791 tests, 84,784 of which have returned negative.
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