Eight New Cases Of COVID-19

Eight more persons have tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) as at Thursday (July 30), bringing Jamaica’s number of cases to 864.

“The newly confirmed cases are six females and two males with ages ranging from 26 to 77 years. The cases are recorded in St. Catherine, four; in Kingston and St Andrew, three, and one in Clarendon,” Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, disclosed on Thursday (July 30) during the weekly virtual COVID Conversations press briefing, in Kingston.

According to the Minister, three of the new cases are imported from persons who recently arrived in the island from the United States, while the remaining five are under investigation.

As it relates to the recoveries, the Minister stated that a total of 724 persons have recovered giving the island an 83.8 per cent recovery rate.

“Persons are, in fact, recovering and that’s important to note – that persons can have COVID and be restored to normal life, and increasingly, we need to accept that and encourage and support those who may be experiencing the virus,” Dr.Tufton said.

The Minister further shared that 46 patients have been repatriated to their countries of origin.

“There are 84 or 9.7 per cent of active cases currently under investigation and there is one moderately ill patient. There is no critically ill patient at this time and we give God thanks for that. We continue to maintain 10 deaths despite the number of positive cases rising and that’s a tribute to the response of the public health team,” Dr. Tufton said.

Of the total number of cases, 324 are imported cases, 246 cases are contacts of confirmed cases, 44 are local transmission cases not epidemiologically linked, 236 are related to the workplace cluster in St. Catherine and 14 are under investigation.

“Some 491 or 57 per cent of all confirmed cases are females and there are 373 or 44 per cent that are males, and the ages of all confirmed cases range from two months to 87 years,” Minister Tufton noted.

In terms of testing, the Minister said 38,106 samples have been tested with 37,176 negative and 66 pending, and in the last 24 hours 579 samples were tested.

In regard to isolation and quarantine, he said that 102 patients are in isolation, while 45 persons of interest are in quarantine at government facilities and 20,731 are in home quarantine in every parish in the island.

Dr. Tufton said it important now more than ever for Jamaicans to remain vigilant in their infection prevention and control measures to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID- 19, and appealed to Jamaicans to stay inside over the upcoming public holidays.