Hon. Carvin Malone, the Minister responsible for Health and Social Development, confirmed that the Territory has recorded 9 additional COVID-19 cases. This brings the Territory’s total to 21.
After the confirmation of case #12 earlier this week, the BVI Health Services Authority began aggressive contact tracing and investigations into the orgin of case #12.
The patient is legally residing in the BVI and has no recent travel history. Therefore, the case was not imported and community spread was suspected.
This revelation sprung the BVI Health Services Authority into action, pursuing leads and identifying primary and secondary contacts of case #12. After contact tracing, ten (10) persons were identified as primary contacts of the patient. Nine (9) out of the ten (10) persons tested positive for COVID-19.
None of the nine (9) persons are currently exhibiting symptoms of the virus. It was revealed that most of the persons were currently residing in East End and Anegada.
Secondary and tertiary contacts of case #12 are residing in several communities throughout the Territory and has been linked to heavily patronized spots and festive events that took place earlier this month.
The BVI Health Services Authority will continue contact tracing and testing in an effort to mitigate the risk of further spread of the virus. In the following days, community screening will take place on Anegada, Virgin Gorda, East End and Sea Cow’s Bay.
To date, the BVI has recorded 21 positive COVID-19 cases. Of those cases, eight (8) are recovered, twelve (12) are active and 1 death. The Territory has tested 2092 persons to date.