As of January 30, 2022 Saint Lucia has diagnosed a total of 20, 909 cases in country, with 4,096 active cases presently. The daily infection rate for the last 7 days is 94.9 per 100,000 population per day which represents a 43% reduction from last week, with a 44% average testing positivity rate and a transmission rate of 2.9.
We have 49 positive cases admitted at the Respiratory Hospital, 6 of them are severely ill. We have recorded a total of 325 COVID-19 deaths. Since the commencement of the 5 th wave on December 16, 2021, 7,780 cases have been diagnosed with an average of 173 cases per day. Women account for 59% of the cases and 29 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded 55% of which is male.
The majority of the deaths are COVID-19 related because of other associated chronic health conditions. Tourists account for 2% of the cases diagnosed for the past 7 days but 4.8% of the total cases during the 5 th wave. Although the cases diagnosed are island-wide, the main areas affected are Castries, Gros-Islet, Vieux-Fort and Babonneau. This week although the island continued to register cases, the seven-day average approximation shows a downward trend in the epidemiological curve.
According to the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sharon Belmar-George, “we note reductions in most of the public health indicators. The cases of COVID-19 noted on a daily basis still has the capacity to cause an increase in hospitalizations, deaths and effect on productivity in the work place.”
An appeal to all organizations, including the public and private sector to ensure the strengthening of all public health protocols has been made by health officials.