Forty-eight Covid-19 cases confirmed, 17 persons admitted for care

St Vincent and the Grenadines on Thursday confirmed 48 new COVID-19  cases of which 44 are nationals with no history of recent travel.

These cases were detected during contact tracing, testing of persons  with flu-like symptoms and exit screening, a release from the National Emergency Management Organization said.

Four of the cases arrived with negative PCR results and tested positive on entry screening.

There are now 255 local cases under investigation.

Four clusters associated with churches, four with work sites and two with  holiday parties have been identified.

“Contact tracing, testing, quarantining and  isolation continue, and are aimed at containing this COVID-19 outbreak in St Vincent and the Grenadines. However, contact tracing is being hampered by the  unwillingness of some persons to provide accurate information,” the NEMO release said.

“The strict compliance with quarantine and isolation is even more important now in  order to suppress any further spread of this viral illness. Persons who have been  instructed to quarantine while awaiting their results, must not leave their quarantine  sites until they receive their tests results.”

One hundred and seven persons have recovered and 281 cases remain active. There are currently 17 Covid-19  patients admitted for care. A total of 388 cases of  Covid-19 have been reported in St Vincent and the Grenadines. All positive cases will continue to be isolated until cleared.

The recommendations for the conduct of mass gatherings as issued on January 8,  2021, restricting the number of persons in an indoor gathering to ten and an outdoor gathering to 20, will be extended to January 25, 2021. All of the  other protocols and recommendations designed to safeguard the health and  wellbeing of the Vincentian public, including those for the use of masks in all  government buildings, must continue to be followed.