‘Delta wave’ sets new mark in death, illness

The ‘Delta wave’ of COVID-19 swept into another week with a toll of death and illness more grim than the previous week’s, according to the latest Ministry of Health figures.

In the space of a week, the number of deaths leapt by double-digits to push past 80, as the island fast approaches the 10, 000 mark for COVID-19 infections.

The surge in infections, which is said to be linked to the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, has led to just short of a record 1,000 people in isolation for the disease.

The daily infection rate continues to hover around 200.

From 1, 835 tests conducted by the Best dos Santos Public Health Laboratory on Sunday, 195 people – 94 males and 101 females – tested positive for the viral illness, bring the total number of cases since March 2021 to 9,205.

There are 997 people in isolation at various government facilities, said the ministry.

Two deaths were recorded on Sunday, raising the death toll to 81, roughly ten times the number of deaths from the virus in all of 2020.

A 64-year-old St Lucian man who spent seven days in primary isolation died at Harrison Point. He had no pre-existing conditions and was unvaccinated, said the ministry.

A 70-year-old Barbadian woman who was in primary isolation for nine days, had an underlying illness and was unvaccinated before her death.

Just over 39 per cent of the total population is fully vaccinated, according to ministry statistics, but about six out of ten Barbadian currently eligible for the vaccine have so far received the jab.

But the Government is currently running about 40 per cent behind its target of 10,000 jabs a week. (SD)