News
| May 21, 2021

Tracking COVID: Spike slowing across the Caribbean, recoveries outnumber active cases

Gavin Riley

Gavin Riley / Our Today

administrator
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Caribbean countries have collectively cemented 38-straight weeks of maintaining mostly closed cases, however, the threat of a regional spike of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic still looms largely even amid a perceived lull in infectivity.

Additionally, with new cases confirmed in Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis the region is only left with Montserrat and Grenada as the two ‘COVID-free’ territories. 

In the last four days, the Caribbean registered twice as many closed cases (9,993) than new infections (4,174).

Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic still rank as the four worst-hit territories in the Caribbean, while cases continue to trend upwards in Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

Analysis of regional data by Our Today finds 24 of the 32 affected countries and territories have reported new cases within the last 24 hours.

As at 9:39 pm Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) on Friday, May 21, collated data from respective health departments across the region has indicated a combined total of 770,927 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Of that number, some 523,641 cases, or roughly 68 per cent, have officially been declared closed. There are currently 247,286 active cases regionally.

The statistics were largely the result of patients across the Caribbean reporting a full recovery from the infectious disease (512,369 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 11,272.

There are now four Caribbean territories without active cases, namely St Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Dominica and Grenada.

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

Confirmed cases to date: 770,927
Deaths: 11,272
Recoveries: 512,369*
Active cases: 247,286*

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

Dominican Republic: 636 new cases; 281,630 confirmed. 3,603 patients have died. (235,608 patients have recovered)

Puerto Rico: 195 new cases; 137,342 confirmed. 2,466 patients have died. (*No information available on recoveries)

Cuba: 1,197 new cases; 130,543 confirmed. 849 patients have died. (122,764 recoveries)

Jamaica: 104 new cases; 47,776 confirmed. 904 patients have died. (23,742 recoveries)

French Guiana: 170 new cases; 22,780 confirmed. 112 patients have died. (9,995 recoveries)

Trinidad and Tobago: 708 new cases; 18,935 confirmed. 348 patients have died. (11,099 recoveries)

Doing comparatively better than other Caribbean countries, Haiti has seen a worrying increase in COVID-19 since January 2021. (Photo: Sun Sentinel)

Guadeloupe: 513 new cases; 16,530 confirmed. 221 patients have died. (2,242 recoveries)

Guyana: 136 new cases; 15,743 confirmed. 349 patients have died. (13,453 recoveries)

Haiti: 26 new cases; 13,624 confirmed. 276 patients have died. (12,463 recoveries)

Belize: Nine new cases; 12,761 confirmed. 323 patients have died. (12,349 recoveries)

Curaçao: Two new cases;  12,268 confirmed. 122 patients have died. (12,085 recoveries)

Suriname: 162 new cases; 12,571 confirmed. 240 patients have died. (10,604 recoveries)

Martinique: 178 new cases; 11,736 confirmed. 90  patients have died. (124 recoveries)

The Bahamas: 75 new cases; 11,396 confirmed. 222 patients have died. (10,221 recoveries)

Aruba: 10 new cases; 10,902 confirmed. 106 patients have died. (10,728 recoveries)

St Lucia: 17 new cases; 4,935 confirmed. 77 patients have died. (4,617 recoveries)

Barbados: Five new cases; 3,985 confirmed. 47 patients have died. (3,932 recoveries)

Guyana received 38,400 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX mechanism on Monday (May 10). The vaccines, the second tranche received by Guyana arrived via an Amerjit flight at the Cheddi Jagan International Aiport. Hugh Todd, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation received the vaccines on behalf of the Government of Guyana. (Photo: Facebook @MOHGuyana)

US Virgin Islands: 18 new cases; 3,308 confirmed. 27 patients have died. (3,222 recoveries)

Bermuda: Four new cases; 2,483 confirmed. 32 patients have died. (2,366 recoveries)

Turks & Caicos Islands: No new cases; 2,407 confirmed. 17 patients have died. (2,379 recoveries)

Sint Maarten: 20 new cases; 2,346 confirmed. 27 patients have died. (2,245 recoveries)

St Vincent and the Grenadines: Eight new cases; 1,962 confirmed. 12 patients have died. (1,809 recoveries)

St Martin: 142 new cases; 1,915 confirmed. 12 patients have died. (1,399 recoveries)

Antigua and Barbuda: No new cases; 1,255 confirmed. 42 patients have died. (1,191 recoveries)

Saint-Barthélemy: 31 new cases; 1,005 confirmed. One patient has died. (462 recoveries)

Cayman Islands: No new cases; 574 confirmed. Two patients have died. (554 recoveries)

British Virgin Islands: No new cases; 248 confirmed. One patient has died. (209 recoveries)

Dominica: No new cases; 184 confirmed. (176 recoveries)

Anguilla: No new cases; 109 confirmed. (107 recoveries)

St Kitts and Nevis: One new case; 46 confirmed. (45 recoveries)

Anguilla, managing a recent cluster of cases, is now just two infections away from achieving its ‘coronavirus-free’ title among very few Caribbean territories.

Countries without active cases

Grenada: No active cases. (Previously confirmed 161 cases, one patient died)

Montserrat: No active cases. (Previously confirmed 20 cases, one patient died)

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