News
| Oct 21, 2021

Tracking COVID: Caribbean countries resume fight against regional outbreak

Gavin Riley

Gavin Riley / Our Today

administrator
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Health officials conducting a simultaneous coronavirus testing and vaccination exercise at the Camalote Community Center in western Belize in July 2021. (Photo: Facebook @BelizeHealth)

The Caribbean’s struggle to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues this week, as countries and territories see little change to the regional situation.

A week after hitting the dreaded two million-case milestone, new infections (33,182) over the last seven days were marginally less than closed cases (36,729).

Despite the challenges, the Caribbean has managed to successfully maintain mostly closed cases for 59 weeks in a row.

Our Today analysis of regional data finds 30 of the 32 affected countries and territories have reported new cases within the last 48 hours. A report from the British Virgin Islands was not forthcoming since last week’s regional update.

Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Guadeloupe still rank as the five worst-hit territories in the region. Suriname, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago remain under a drastic spike in cases coinciding with the Delta variant’s introduction in local populations.

As at 3:45 pm Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) on Thursday, October 21, collated data from respective health departments across the region has indicated a combined total of 2,046,341 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Of that number, some 1,652,994 cases, or roughly 80.78 per cent, have officially been declared closed. There are an estimated 393,347 active cases regionally.

The statistics were largely the result of patients across the Caribbean reporting a full recovery from the infectious disease (1,625,908 recoveries to date, barring insufficient data from Puerto Rico, French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique).

In the meantime, the total number of patients who succumbed to coronavirus-related complications spiked to 27,086.

See Our Today’s latest situational analysis on COVID-19 in the Caribbean below:

Confirmed cases to date: 2,046,341
Deaths: 27,086
Recoveries: 1,625,908*
Active cases: 393,347*

*—Data from Health Departments and Agencies across the Caribbean. (Full or partial recovery statistics have not been forthcoming from Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, St Martin, French Guiana, Saint-Barthélemy and Martinique)

Cuba: 1,435 new cases; 941,562 confirmed. 8,133 patients have died. (926,980 recoveries)

Dominican Republic: 889 new cases; 373,929 confirmed. 4,097 patients have died. (363,580 patients have recovered)

Puerto Rico: 123 new cases; 184,140 confirmed. 3,213 patients have died. (*No information available on recoveries)

Jamaica: 74 new cases; 87,797 confirmed. 2,133 patients have died. (56,106 recoveries)

A healthcare worker takes details from citizens participating in Guyana’s drive-through vaccination drive at the Movietowne Turkeyen in the capital Georgetown on Sunday, June 13. (photo: Facebook @MOHGuyana)

Trinidad and Tobago: 218 new cases; 54,623 confirmed. 1,621 patients have died. (48,710 recoveries)

Guadeloupe: 156 new cases; 54,350 confirmed. 736 patients have died. (2,250 recoveries)

Suriname: 193 new cases; 47,477 confirmed. 1,044 patients have died. (29,401 recoveries)

French Guiana: 122 new cases; 43,816 confirmed. 298 patients have died. (9,995 recoveries)

Martinique: 114 new cases; 42,748 confirmed. 670 patients have died. (124 recoveries)

Guyana: 118 new cases; 34,726 confirmed. 881 patients have died. (30,206 recoveries)

Belize: 180 new cases; 24,948 confirmed. 471 patients have died. (21,682 recoveries)

Haiti: 82 new cases; 23,406 confirmed. 658 patients have died. (20,149 recoveries)

The Bahamas: 44 new cases; 22,092 confirmed. 626 patients have died. (20,117 recoveries)

Curaçao: 17 new cases;  16,972 confirmed. 169 patients have died. (16,590 recoveries)

Aruba: 19 new cases; 15,765 confirmed. 170 patients have died. (15,435 recoveries)

Barbados: 381 new cases; 13,934 confirmed. 123 patients have died. (9,753 recoveries)

A Jamaican man takes a COVID-19 jab on the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ mobile vaccination drive in the rural community of Thicketts, St Ann. (Photo: Facebook @ChrisTufton)

St Lucia: 33 new cases; 12,313 confirmed. 237 patients have died. (11,606 recoveries)

US Virgin Islands: 14 new cases; 7,099 confirmed. 78 patients have died. (6,897 recoveries)

Grenada: 14 new cases; 5,790 confirmed. 193 patients have died. (5,268 recoveries)

Bermuda: 26 new cases; 5,593 confirmed. 95 patients have died. (5,240 recoveries)

St Vincent and the Grenadines: 92 reported new cases; 4,729 confirmed. 56 patients have died. (2,974 recoveries)

Sint Maarten: 11 new cases; 4,467 confirmed. 75 patients have died. (4,344 recoveries)

Dominica: 52 new cases; 4,465 confirmed. 30 patients have died. (4,070 recoveries)

Antigua and Barbuda: 45 new cases; 3,984 confirmed. 97 patients have died. (3,291 recoveries)

St Martin: 33 new cases; 3,850 confirmed. 55 patients have died. (1,399 recoveries)

Turks & Caicos Islands: Five new cases; 2,941 confirmed. 23 patients have died. (2,861 recoveries)

British Virgin Islands: No reported new cases; 2,725 confirmed. 37 patients have died. (2,649 recoveries)

St Kitts and Nevis: Two new cases; 2,591 confirmed. 21 patients have died. (2,182 recoveries)

Saint-Barthélemy: One new case; 1,589 confirmed. Six patients have died. (462 recoveries)

Cayman Islands: 41 new cases; 1,136 confirmed. Two patients have died. (899 recoveries)

A child being tested for the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Cayman Islands. (Photo: Facebook @Caymangovinfo)

Anguilla: 45 new cases; 743 confirmed. One patient has died. (655 recoveries)

Montserrat: No new cases; 41 confirmed. One patient has died.  (33 recoveries)

NB: There are no countries without active cases at this time

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