Four persons whose quarantine was to have ended, test positive for Covid-19

Four of the persons whose quarantine was to have ended yesterday, April 8, have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of positive cases in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to 12.

A release from the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) on Thursday said the results of the pending 30 samples which had been sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) for testing, had been received.

The release said 26 of the samples were negative, four were positive and all four of the positive cases are imported.

Of the 12 positive cases in SVG, one person has recovered, there are thus 11 active cases in the country.

“The patients, who have been informed, are all Vincentian nationals and have been in isolation since the samples were taken for testing. Monitoring of these patients is ongoing and all close contacts have been identified. All additional public health measures will continue including the implementation of additional quarantine where necessary,” the release from NEMO said.

On Tuesday in Parliament, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said the quarantine period for 32 Vincentians who had a “connection”, which was supposed to have ended yesterday, April 8, had been extended a further seven days.

He noted while the 32 persons had fulfilled their 14-day quarantine period with no symptoms, the Ministry of Health had persuaded CARPHA to test them for COVID-19.

It is the policy of CARPHA to test only people who have symptoms.

The Prime Minister said that these persons are asymptomatic, but the tests are part of the ongoing tracing and certification.

“Those samples have been taken and either have been sent already or will be sent and there is an extension for those persons even though tomorrow (Wednesday April 8), the 14-day quarantine will come to an end,” Dr Gonsalves explained.

He said the 32 persons had a connection to cruise line workers who had tested positive here.

Five out of the eight Vincentians who had up to that point (April 7) tested positive for COVID-19 are persons employed on cruise ships.

Going further, the Prime Minister said that one of the things noted by health professionals is that four of the five persons who came from cruise ships had a connection.

“I don’t want to detail the connection. It is not a spatial connection geographically into the country but four of them were connected,” said Gonsalves.

That connection, SEARCHLIGHT has learned, is that the four sailors worked on the same cruise ship.

On Thursday afternoon, NEMO clarified that whereas 32 people were of interest, samples had only been taken from 30 for testing.