Tuesday, January 26, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Wellness received confirmation of forty-eight new cases of COVID-19 from a batch of 200 tests conducted at the Ezra Long Laboratory. Confirmation was also received of the recovery of twenty-three individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 bringing the total number of active cases currently in the country to 461. One of the active cases is in critical care at the Respiratory Hospital and all of the others are stable and doing well.
The new cases now bring the total number of cases diagnosed in the country to date to 969.
All of the forty-eight cases are Saint Lucian nationals who range in age from 5 years to 92 years. They are from the Babonneau, Anse La Raye and Castries districts. All of these individuals were seen at a community respiratory clinic for assessment and were tested for COVID-19. As per the testing protocol, they were placed in quarantine by health care practitioners while awaiting their COVID-19 test results. Arrangements have since been made to place these individuals in isolation. The contact tracing team is undertaking investigations to identify the contacts of these confirmed cases.
At this present time, the Ezra Long Laboratory continues to manage the testing of the backlog of samples. It is necessary that everyone awaiting test results remain in quarantine until contacted by a health care worker. All results, both negative and positive, must be communicated via telephone to the individual prior to release from quarantine. It means that an individual in quarantine should not leave their dedicated quarantine space to go conduct business, go to work, run errands or any other activity.