Government mounts aggressive response to COVID outbreak

Government has ramped up its capacity across the board as health authorities continue feverish efforts to respond to a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases triggered by a Boxing Day bus crawl, dubbed a “super spreader” event.

Head of the Cabinet COVID-19 sub-committee Senator Dr Jerome Walcott assured that the island remains fully able to conduct mass testing and provide care and accommodation for persons who test positive for the viral illness.

He told a news conference this evening that 30 more persons can be accommodated at the Harrison’s Point Isolation Facility, which can presently house over 200 patients, and Government has started to explore the use of other centres, such as the Blackman and Gollop Primary School which was used in March last year.

At HMP Dodds where 161 people, including inmates, prison officers and civilian staff, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Dr Walcott said there is a  quarantine area at the St Philip penal institution which can accommodate 100 persons and it will used as an isolation centre within the prison.

He also stated that another facility had been identified.

“There is a medical facility which we believe can be outfitted to be used in terms of seriously ill persons, in terms of an isolation for seriously ill persons,” he said.

Meanwhile, the state-owned Queen Elizabeth Hospital has also been making preparations in line with its COVID-19 response plan.

“They are making preparations on how patients were triaged at the Accident and Emergency Department and there are plans afoot in terms of shifting certain out-patients clinics to allow for greater separation of patients when they are being triaged,” Dr Walcott disclosed.

The senior Government Minister also assured that the country has an abundance of testing material.

“We have 50 to 60 000 swabs available. We have over 100 000 Rapid PCR test kits available and we have some on order,” he said, adding that more staff was in place at the Best Dos Santos Laboratory to meet the increased demand for testing and there was no backlog of tests at this stage.

In addition to those testing positive at HMP Dodds, 33 others, including persons identified through contact tracing and visitors arriving in the island, authorities are also investigating two smaller clusters comprising seven and four cases each and another two potential clusters that have so far not yielded any positive results.