Chief Medical Officer Dr Simone Keizar – Beache says, there is no community spread of COVID-19 in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Keizer- Beache was speaking at a press conference on Tuesday when she made the pronouncement.
“ We have identified two clusters, those persons either work in the same area, congregate in the same area, or attended an event, and we are in the process of actively investigating others who have not immediately fallen into those two groups”.
Keizer – Beache stated that the ministry is not saying that we have community spread, rather we are saying we are investigating.
“ We have made some significant progress in terms of getting the linkages, and we are going to continue to investigate”.
In regards to mass testing, the CMO said there are two levels of screening and testing.
“ If someone is positive, we will be doing PCR testing along with their close contacts. Also, we do screening to see if there is any evidence of prior exposure”.
Some 21, 373 persons have been tested in St Vincent and the Grenadines for COVID-19.
As of Tuesday 5th January, two health care workers in St Vincent tested positive for COVID-19.
The workers, however, did not contract COVID within their respective work environment.
Keizer- Beache, said the two workers are stable, meaning they are not ill to the point of being admitted.
The CMO on Tuesday also stated that they had sent more samples to CARPHA for testing of the new COVID-19 variant.
She said earlier samples sent for testing of the new variant returned negative results.
Increased testing of persons with flu-like symptoms such as sore throat, fever and cough continues at district health centres throughout the country.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has now recorded one hundred and thirty-three (133) cases of COVID-19. One hundred (100) persons have recovered, and thirty-three (33) remains active.
The country is now among 13 nations that have recorded no deaths from the pandemic.
The public is strongly urged to wear facial coverings, sanitize their hands regularly and maintain physical distancing when possible.
