The British Virgin Islands has been declared to be at an advanced stage of community spread following the latest published statistics which revealed that a total of 1296 active cases are in the territory.
This is according to the Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ronald Georges who made the statement during a July 11 COVID-19 update on social media.
He said, “As of the 10th of July 2021, a total of 5,692 tests were done over the period 3rd July to 9th July and returned a total of 989 positive results. This brings the total number of positives to 1,147 as of the 10th of July 2021 for an average of 17 percent of persons sent or attending for screening having tested positive.”
“Today we have 149 additional positive results from the 9th of July that have so far been reported, with a further 111 samples left to be reported on,” he added.
More cases expected in the coming days
Dr. Georges also said that the flow in the new positive cases appears to be steadying and he expects several more cases to be recorded within the coming days.
“The BVI has seen exponential growth in active cases with a trend of increasing the number of daily reports of new cases. The trend in increasing daily reports of new cases reported appears to have stabilised, however large numbers of new cases are expected to continue to be reported for several days,” he stated.
“As I would have previously described, we expect that the momentum and increase of new cases will continue for a few more days based on previous exposures. I must appeal to everyone’s understanding that the BVI is now in an advanced state of community transmission and therefore all persons are presently at risk of contracting COVID-19,” he further explained.
18 persons in Emergency Room
Dr. Georges also said at the time of the press conference that 18 persons were awaiting to be admitted to the hospital. He however revealed other statistics detailing the category of persons admitted to the hospital since July 4.
These included: one person in the Emergency Room, 12 in the ward, four in intensive care and two deaths. Of the 17 living persons, 16 are said to be unvaccinated and one vaccinated.
Urgent call to limit exposure
With these alarming statistics, Dr. Georges urged the public to refrain from exposing themselves to the virus by practicing the necessary public health protocols and by getting vaccinated.
He said, “Geographical distribution and contact tracing are irrelevant at this point because we are in a situation of very high transmission and community spread throughout the Territory. This means that all persons must simply take urgent and immediate steps to limit their exposure to stop the spread of the virus.”
“Testing is less important at this time. It is less important than strict adherence to public health measures and getting vaccinated. These are the two most important measures for the public to take immediately,” he added.