IN JAMAIVCA: COVID positivity rate rises, as community spread intensifies; hospitalisations rise 15 per cent

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Dr. Tufton

The COVID-19 positivity rate has risen to nearly 37 per cent, as the country continues to grapple with acute community spread of the infectious and deadly disease.  The Ministry of Health and Wellness says there were 504 confirmed new cases of the disease from 1,444 samples tested. This puts the positivity rate of 36.8 per cent. The number of new cases has pushed the country's total number of infections to date since March last year to 30,499. A total 14,640 of those cases are active.  

A 72 year-old man from St Catherine died from the disease yesterday, raising the death toll from COVID-19 to 485.

Hospitalisation has also increased significantly, rising to 366 patients, the ministry reports, from 317 on Friday. Those requiring critical care account for 33 and those experiencing moderate symptoms, 24.

The country's prime urban district, Kingston and St Andrew, continues to account for the highest number of infections, with 162 new cases recorded yesterday, the ministry says. It's closest neighbour to the west, St Catherine, had 111 cases, followed by St Thomas and St Ann with 48 new cases each. The central parishes of Manchester and Clarendon each recorded 40 new cases of COVID-19; St James 33 and Trelawny 32. St Elizabeth confirmed 20 new cases and Portland 18; while Hanover had 17, St Mary 12 and Westmoreland six new cases.