CMO Dr. Hazel Laws speaking at the NEOC briefing on Wednesday gave an update on the corona virus Covid-19 pandemic and how it is affecting St.Kitts and Nevis, the region and internationally.
Dr. Laws also spoke to a third batch of Ross University School students who have returned to the federation and are being quarantined in their dorms on the campus.
“In St.Kitts and Nevis we’ve reported 19 confirmed cases of corona virus disease so far 17 of these cases have recovered we have 2 active cases at present and they are stable. In the Caribbean region there has been 220,000 confirmed cases over a little over 128,000 of these have recovered and the death toll in the Caribbean region continues to be low and we hope that this trend continues.”
She indicated that the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic is turning into a food crisis; that the disruption will have long term consequences on our children’s education, and will also harm our country’s health care system.
She said that although the borders have been closed for 6 months, they have to reopen for the country’s economy to function effectively.
“The economic crisis is already turning into a food crisis in other words the number of persons unable to afford enough food to eat is increasing. Let’s talk about schools the disruption to education will have long term consequences on our children. The corona virus disease pandemic is also affecting and impacting health care systems across the globe. The harm to health care systems will be long lasting for example the outbreaks and the lock downs have impacted vaccination rates.”