by Linda Straker
- All new cases linked to Patient Zero
- New cases now in isolation and being monitored
- At least one was on the same flight; other cases are from same household
Health Minister, Nickolas Steele, has confirmed that Grenada’s Covid-19 count is now at 7, with all the new cases linked to Patient Zero.
“The 6 new cases are now in isolation and being monitored by health officials. The ministry continues with aggressive contact tracing, in an effort to ascertain and mitigate further spread of the virus. I also must report that at least one of these new cases is imported, and was on the same flight, within a 6-foot radius of Patient Zero, our original case,” said Steele as he announced the new count.
“The other cases are from the same household as Patient Zero. The persons are all exhibiting mild symptoms at this time, so we are encouraged, but definitely not complacent,” he shared in an emergency news conference called on Thursday.
The first case, a 50-year-old returning national from the United Kingdom, was announced on Sunday, 22 March 2020. She arrived on 16 March and developed signs on 17 March. She was hospitalized earlier in the week after her condition deteriorated.
However, on Thursday, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Francis Martin, said that following the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, Grenada’s Patient Zero was stabilised after admittance and was discharged.
Dr Shawn Charles, Epidemiologist in the Ministry of Health, said that all of Grenada’s positive cases range between the ages of 50 and 80, with 1 male and 6 females.
With regards to contract tracing of all positive persons, Steele said that Grenada’s medical team has been actively following up and engaged in contact tracing. “We are already moving to isolate and monitor several others, who were in close contact with any of these new cases. This will continue for the next 14 days, at least,” he said.
Grenada has already reported these 6 new cases to the WHO, and Pan American Health Organization Organisation (PAHO). All Grenada’s swabs are tested at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) in Trinidad. In the absence of normal commercial flights, the swabs are sent via the RSS aircraft. As part of measures to combat the spread of Covid-19, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell announced a Limited State of Emergency for a 21-day period. This involves a daily curfew from 7 pm to 5 am.
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We are Europas in our sailboat in St.Georges. We are healthy and came here 8 days ago after 3 weeks at sea. We are very happy to hear this situation is dealt with very seriously. When we arrived, we were met by representatives from Grenadas Health dept. who checked us out before we were allowed to move on to see other people. We feel very safe here and spend all of our time on the boat – not to cause any extra burden to others. We have gòod hopes for Grenada to get through this thing OK. God bless you (us) all.
People you need to get your facts straight before commenting. I do not support the NNP but my God what do we want. These are doing a marvelous job. This no politics man. Hiding what from the citizens?Go read if you can and stop this nonsense. Pray and stop bobbling. God bless Grenada. Great job all you who are involved in the effort to combat this virus.