SVG records its 18th case of COVID-19

With St Vincent and the Grenadines recording its 18th positive case of COVID-19, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has warned that we are not yet “out of the woods”.

The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) on Tuesday, May 19 announced the latest case here, after 17 days of no recorded cases.

The release said that the new case is an occupant of a home where there were two known positive COVID-19 cases.

“Nobody has gone to the hospital with it, no serious case. Nobody has had to go to the ICU. Nobody has had to go to the special isolation unit which we have built, nobody has had to go on a ventilator, no frontline person, whether doctor or nurse, other healthcare worker, whether policeman or woman, so that we are at a relatively good place but we are not yet out of the woods,” Gonsalves said on radio this week.

The prime minister reiterated the recommendations of the Health Services Subcommittee in relation to the necessary precautions that should be taken to slow the spread of the virus.

He said the authorities engage in early identification, contact tracing, testing, quarantining and isolation, all while strengthening the various health facilities.

Gonsalves said in this way, the country will remain in a relative state of preparedness, should things worsen as it relates to COVID-19.

But as it stands currently, none of the 18 recorded cases has suffered severely but have got only mild cases of the virus, he said.

Up to press time, there are four active cases and 14 recovered cases of COVID-19. None of the Carnival Cruise Line crew members who returned to SVG on May 14 have tested positive for the virus.