Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton announced that daily hospitalisations for COVID-19 increased this week compared to last week, moving from 100 to 130 for both confirmed and suspected cases of the virus.

The announcement comes a week after the health minister told Parliament that the number of hospitalisations due to the virus was relatively low, but encouraged citizens to observe infection prevention and control protocols.

The sudden increase in hospitalisations is said to be linked to an increase in the country’s positivity rate for the virus, which stood at 27.9 per cent as of July 17, up from the 22.7 per cent recorded on July 10.

A high positivity rate refers to the percentage of COVID-19 tests that have been conducted that have shown to be positive.

Tufton, speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing today, July 19, reported that “isolation ward occupancy was averaging about 20 per cent of available space last week. [However], it is about 30 per cent this week. Persons classified as moderately ill moved from 13 to 22 within a week. We have two severely ill, no critically ill”.

However, he noted that general bed occupancy for all patients remains high.

New COVID cases

The latest COVID report from the health ministry indicated that 227 new cases were recorded between July 11 and July 17. Two deaths were confirmed, one from 2021 and the other from 2023. Additionally, one COVID-related death was ruled as coincidental, meaning the patient had the virus but died due to other illnesses. Two possible COVID deaths were also placed under investigation.

“We’re monitoring [the situation] closely. The good part of that is that [we’re] not seeing any significant increases in deaths, which is the extreme case. Every death is regrettable of course, but the fact that we’re seeing increases in positivity, it means that it will have an impact [on] hospitalization and bed occupancy, and the fact that people are in hospital means the probability of people dying will increase so we can’t take it lightly,” said Tufton.

He further encouraged citizens to observe the infection prevention and control protocols such as handwashing, sanitisation, and wearing masks.

“We will continue to watch the COVID scenario. The general thrust of policy in Jamaica, as is the case in the world, is that we’re learning to live with COVID, and the variant strains that are there now are not considered the most lethal. In fact, they are considered relatively mild,” he advised.

Tufton has previously disclosed that Omicron and its subvariants were found to be the most prevalent circulating variants in society.

According to COVID expert Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, during an interview with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Omicron variant is less severe than the Delta variant. However, it is still a dangerous virus and can lead to deadly infections in some people. She added that the virus is particularly dangerous for persons with underlying illnesses.