One new COVID-19 case recorded

A Barbadian woman who returned from the United Kingdom on Tuesday is the island’s  newest COVID-19 patient.

The 69-year-old arrived on a British Airways flight and her positive case brings the total number of locally recorded COVID-19 cases to 133.

Addressing the nation in a press conference hosted by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, at Ilaro Court, today, Head of Infectious Diseases at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Dr Corey Forde said as of this morning, there were 27 patients in isolation at the Harrison’s Point, St Lucy facility, while two persons were discharged today. One of those was a previously critically ill patient.

“Within the facility, within the secondary isolation which is for patients who are quite well but we want to observe a little bit more, we have a total of eight patients. In our tertiary facility, we have an additional ten males and ten females.

“And we have one male who we placed over the last 24 hours within the primary isolation area, that’s our intensive care area. The patient is not dramatically unwell, but we had some concerns. This morning I will report to you that he is doing quite well and I am actually going to discharge him back to secondary isolation and continue to monitor him,” Dr Forde said.

Over the weekend, nine nurses from Ghana who arrived on the island last Thursday, and 12 returning Barbadians, accounted for the recent spike in cases.

Two hundred and seventeen tests were conducted at the Best-dos-Santos Public Health Laboratory on Tuesday. The facility has recorded 12 057 tests since February 11.