Omicron fears swell in Jamaica: COVID cases, positivity rate still climbing
Gavin Riley / Our Today
administrator
Jamaica’s fourth coronavirus (COVID-19) wave is well underway, as the Ministry of Health and Wellness confirmed an additional 769 new cases over the last 24 hours.
With many across the island anxiously awaiting verification of the community transmission phase of the Omicron variant, which is presumed present across the country, the cumulative caseload stands at 95,946.
According to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the positivity rate on Sunday (January 2) jumped 14 percentage points higher than the day before, moving from 34.9 per cent to 48.4 per cent.
The current figure effectively means that close to half of every 10 Jamaicans tested for COVID-19 have returned with a positive confirmation.
Hospitalisations have also seen a marked increase in the last 48 hours, up from 104 in the New Year’s Day clinical management summary to 137, health ministry data indicated.
Of that number, 39 patients were classified as ‘moderately ill’, 16 listed as ‘severely ill’ and another four deemed ‘critically ill’.
What’s more, the health ministry noted some 25,657 Jamaicans observing isolation protocols at home, while 12 were isolated in Government-operated facilities.
A total of 19,523 persons are under quarantine at home, with four more Jamaicans in a State-run facility.
Consistently, new infections were confirmed by health officials across all 14 parishes islandwide, with Kingston and St Andrew (230), St James (140), Manchester (84), St Ann (82) and St Catherine ranking as the five areas hardest hit.
The death of an elderly St Ann native pushed the Jamaican toll to 2,477, while some 65,937 persons have made a full recovery from the infectious disease.
An anaemic Jamaican public health system is currently managing 27,532 active cases—3,168 of which the ministry said were recorded in the last two weeks.
Our Today calculations reveal the island has picked up 2,026 cases in the first three days of the new year, averaging 675 new infections daily.
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