There are three newly imported cases of COVID-19 into Dominica, and the number of active cases currently stands at seven – said national epidemiologist, Dr. Shallaudin Ahmed. The three new cases raised the existing four active cases to seven.
Just last week, Dr. Laura Esprit of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, announced that there were eight active cases in the country. With Dr. Ahmed’s new revelation that there are now a total of seven cases in the face of the three newly imported cases, it goes to reason that four infected cases had been treated and discharged since Esprit made her announcement last week.
Ahmed said the three new cases are asymptomatic and were discovered through PCR testing after five days of quarantining the suspects following their arrival into the country.
As it stands, Dominica now has a total recovered cases of 102 and no related coronavirus deaths, while a total of 8,114 PCR tests had been carried out across the country. Ahmed said Dominica has the lowest positivity rate in the entire Caribbean at 1.3%, and that the last time anyone got infected with the disease within the country was in November, 2020.
The national epidemiologist further emphasized the need to adhere health and safety protocols recommended by the Ministry of Health for the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic. He warned against mass social gatherings, touching of surfaces outside of one’s home, close contact with people, and poor hygiene. He said frequent washing of hands and the use of face masks remain the best prevention against the pandemic.
“Based on scientific publications, there is a 97% chance of you being safe with a face mask on,” Dr. Ahmed advised. “Maintaining 6 foot distance…anything less than 3 feet, then there is a 13% chance that you may contract the virus.”
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