The Ministry of Health and Wellness received confirmation of seventy-six new cases of COVID-19 from the Ezra Long Laboratory late Sunday, January 24, 2021. This is from a batch of 309 samples which were tested for samples taken during the period January 18, 2021, to January 24, 2021.
The Ministry of Health also received confirmation on January 24, 2021, of the recovery of thirty- seven cases of COVID-19. This brings the total number of active cases in the country to 412. All of the active cases are stable and doing well. The new cases now bring the total number of cases diagnosed in-country to date to 886.
All of the cases are Saint Lucian nationals who range in age from 6 years to 85 years. They are from the Castries, Soufriere, Anse La Raye, Gros-Islet, Dennery and Babonneau districts. All of these individuals were seen at community-based respiratory clinics where they were assessed and tested for COVID-19. As per 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 into isolation. The contact tracing team is undertaking investigations to identify the contacts of these confirmed cases.
The Ezra Long Laboratory is presently processing a backlog of samples received in the past week. This has led to the increased turnaround time in generating results over the last week. The public is asked to bear patience a large number of results are being processed for dissemination to the public. All who have been placed in quarantine and isolation are to remain until informed of results by the team.
The Ezra Long Laboratory is currently implementing measures to improve this situation.