COVID-19: Deadliest week yet, 14,000-plus jabs delivered

Another week proved to be the deadliest yet in the COVID-19 pandemic as a 60-year-old man and a 93-year-old woman joined six other Barbadians in losing their fight against the coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 31.

The news came as the race to vaccinate Barbadians, beginning with frontline workers and extending to over-70s, passed the 14,000 mark with an initial jab.

The Government’s COVID Communication Unit declared that both patients had underlying medical conditions or “comorbidities”.

The man died Friday morning at the Harrison Point isolation hospital where he had been a patient for a month. He was on a ventilator for the past 18 days, the unit said.

The 93-year-old woman died on Thursday night at Enmore after arriving at Accident and Emergency the day before.

The deaths come as the national vaccination programme delivered the first of two doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca jab doubled its daily pace.

Some 2,340 people received their first shot Thursday, rising to 11,494 jabs – 5,210 men and 6,284 women.

By Friday, the number had rocketed to 14,441, according to the COVID Communications Unit.

Authorities reported that there is no longer a backlog of samples at the Best-dos Santos Laboratory and all positives were received and tested on Thursday.

The country recorded 30 new positive cases of COVID-19 -17 women and 13 men from 702 tests

Of the 30, three of them had already been at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility, 26 were Barbadians and one was a non-national.

The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, which is being distributed at 12 vaccination centres, was deemed on Monday by the World Health Organisation to be suitable for all populations and age groups.

Minister of Health Lt Col Hon Jeffrey Bostic said in a statement that Government was doing everything possible “to contain, manage and significantly reduce incidents of COVID-19 infections in our country and to protect our frontline workers, persons with NCDs and seniors”

“Once vaccinated, Barbadians would be protected from the most serious forms of the illness which result in hospitalisation and death,” he said. “The vaccination programme is, therefore, a very important weapon in the national arsenal against COVID.”

The health minister said the extended lockdown and the additional restriction of movement over the weekend will “help to stop the spread of Covid-19.”

The number of active cases of COVID-19 is now 789, the ministry said.

Overall, Barbados has recorded 2,677 confirmed cases of the viral infection – 1,228 females and .1,449 males – and 1,858 people have recovered from illness, according to official figures.

The public health laboratory has completed 119,338 tests since February 2020. (SD)