COVID-19 Cases Trending Downwards

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is reporting that there has been a trending down in the number of new positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country over the past month.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, who made the announcement, noted that based on the epidemiological curve, there was a plateauing in positive cases over the month of September and for the month of October “we have been consistently trending downwards”.

“We have trended down over the last month from 24 to 10. We have been plateauing at 10 for the last three or so weeks and this week suggests that we are going to be along the same trend. Our hope is that we will continue to get that positivity rate down,” she said.

Dr. Bisasor-McKenzie was speaking at the Ministry’s weekly COVID-19 Conversations digital press conference on Thursday (November 5).

Looking at specific parishes, the CMO noted that over the last month, a general slowing down in the number of positive cases was seen in Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Portland, St. Elizabeth, Manchester, and Clarendon.

Dr. Bisasor-McKenzie attributed this improvement in the numbers to the strategies the Health Ministry has undertaken to tackle the pandemic.

“At the beginning of October, we had started to do a variety of community interventions and we believe that this has worked to decrease the number of cases again, and as we go into another month, we are looking again at our strategies [to see] how it is that we decrease even further,” she said.

Dr. Bisasor-McKenzie noted, however, that while some parishes have been inactive in terms of positive cases in the last couple of weeks, some of these parishes have recently been seeing an increase in cases.

“So for example… we have been seeing an increase in the number of cases in Westmoreland and… we have to take note of what is happening in St. Ann,” she noted.

Turning to the number of COVID-related deaths, which now stands at 217, the CMO informed that while there was a peak in cases at the end of August going into September, “we are now seeing a trending down and we hope that this trend will continue”.

Portfolio Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, cautioned that although there is an improvement in the COVID-19 numbers, persons should still remain cautious and continue to follow all safety protocols to limit further spread of the disease.

“The message has to continue to be sobering that COVID is still out there; still present. [It is] in fewer communities based on testing and surveillance, but we cannot afford to be complacent,” he said.

To date, Jamaica has recorded 9,373 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 499 being imported cases and 8,874 cases locally acquired. There are 687 active cases for the period October 21 to November 4.