Since the commencement of the 5th wave on December 16, 2021, 686 cases have been diagnosed with an average of 40 cases per day. Women account for 56% of the cases and 6 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded. Tourists account for 26% of the cases.
The prevalence increase is noted both in the northern and southern regions of the island. “We continue to note increases in most of the public health indicators over the last 7 days, the transmission rate, test positivity rate, increased active cases as we manage the 5th wave in country,” officials from the Department of Health disclosed.
“We have increased surveillance for the Omicron variant which is characterized for the high level of transmission and we still have the Delta Variant in circulation locally.”
This increased transmission on COVID-19 noted at this point has the capacity to increase hospitalizations, and death. As such, the Department of Health continued its appeal to all organizations, public and private sector to ensure the strengthening of all public health protocols.
As of January 2, 2022 Saint Lucia has diagnosed a total of 13, 816 cases in country, with 362 active cases presently. The daily infection rate for the last 7 days is 37.6 per. 100,000 population per day, with a 14% testing positivity rate and a transmission rate of 2.9.
We have noted a total of 301 COVID-19 deaths. The island currently has 24 positive cases admitted at the Respiratory Hospital, 1 case is critically ill and 8 are severely ill.