With 30 coronavirus-related (COVID-19) new fatalities recorded by the Ministry of Health and Wellness over the last 48 hours, Jamaica has officially lost more than 2,000 lives in the pandemic.

The island’s registered deaths, sitting at 2,025, is currently the fourth-highest mortality in the entire Caribbean behind Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico—and the worst among CARICOM member states.

The death toll shows a marked decline in the Jamaican response, as it initially took the country over a year to register its first 500 fatalities on March 16, 2021.

Just shy of three months later, 500 more Jamaicans died due to COVID-19 around June 14 as the deaths jumped to 1,011.

• Related: 1,000+ dead: Three months after first 500 deaths, Jamaica hits tragic mark

On August 29, with 21 new daily deaths, Jamaica’s situation worsened further as the island first hit 1,504 cumulative fatalities.

Less than six weeks later, on October 10, COVID-related deaths inched to 2,000 as five citizens perished.

According to the ministry’s clinical management summary released on Monday, October 11, 25 deaths were confirmed, ranging between August 23 and October 8.

Trelawny accounted for 11 or roughly 44 per cent of deaths, another nine deaths (36 per cent) were residents of St Elizabeth, three deaths in St Catherine, two deaths from St James and one death recorded in Clarendon.

Fourteen of the deceased victims were men and the remaining 11 were women.

Jamaica confirmed 258 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall total to 86,364.

The island is managing 29,347 active cases, marginally lower than yesterday’s record high of 29,831 active infections, while 54,424 persons have made a full recovery from the infectious disease.

Hospitalisations continue to trend down, as some 419 Jamaicans are being treated at this time. Of that number, 90 patients are listed by health officials as ‘moderately ill’, 53 categorised as ‘severely ill’, and 30 classified as ‘critically ill’.

Jamaica’s positivity rate, owing to the impact of the Delta variant, still hovers high at 20.5 per cent.