The Ezra Long Laboratory continues to manage the backlog of COVID-19 samples. Today Sunday January 31, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Wellness received confirmation of two hundred and sixteen new cases of COVID-19 from a batch of 541 tests conducted at the Ezra Long Laboratory. This batch consists of samples taken over several days, from the period January 21, 2021 to January 29, 2021.
The Ministry of Health also received confirmation of the recovery of eight individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 bringing the total number of active cases in country to 769. The individual who was in critical care over the course of the past week is no longer in the Intensive Care Unit and is currently stable. Today, The Ministry also reports that two of the active cases required admission into critical care and all of the others are stable.
All of the cases are Saint Lucian nationals who range in age from 8 years to 82 years. These cases are from all districts nationally. These individuals were seen at community-based respiratory clinics for assessment and were tested for COVID-19. They were placed in quarantine by health care practitioners while awaiting their COVID-19 test results. Arrangements have since been made to place them into isolation. The contact tracing team has commenced investigations to identify the contacts of these confirmed cases.
Today, the Ministry of Health also reports two COVID-19 related deaths bringing the total number of deaths in country to date to fifteen. Death #14 is a 72 year old male from the Gros-Islet district with no known medical history. Death #15 is a 21-year-old male from the Babonneau district with no known medical history. Both individuals were in care at the time of their passing.