COVID numbers pass 1,800

The Ministry of Health and Wellness says there are 200 beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients currently available in the public health system.

This as Jamaica's positive confirmed COVID-19 cases soared past the 1,800 mark yesterday, with 72 new cases. The island now has 1,804 cases.

The ministry said that currently 107 beds are occupied by patients receiving care.

Only the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in St Andrew and the Princess Margaret Hospital in St Thomas have reached their capacity on the COVID-19 wards.

"The necessary protocols and logistics are already in place, if there is a need to transfer or admit patients to any facility in the public health system," the ministry said.

Six new recoveries

Yesterday, the island also recorded six new recoveries, bringing that total to 846. Of the newly confirmed cases, 45 are females and 27 are males, with ages ranging from five years to 81 years. Seven cases are contacts of a confirmed case and 65 are currently under investigation.

The cases were recorded in Kingston and St Andrew (22), St Catherine (18), Clarendon (11), St Thomas (eight), St Ann (four), Manchester (three), Hanover and St Mary (two each), and St Elizabeth and St James (one each). Seven moderately ill patients and four critically ill patients are among the 867 active cases now under observation in Jamaica.

Seventy-one of the cases recorded on the island have returned to their countries of origin.

Some 30,134 persons of interest are quarantined at home while 16 remain in quarantine at government facilities.

Jamaica now has 440 imported cases; 509 cases that are contacts of confirmed cases; 154local transmission cases not epidemiologically linked; 236 related to the workplace cluster in St Catherine and 465 are under investigation.