St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Dengue Outbreak - DREF Operation Update no. 1 (MDRVC004)
Format
1. Description of the Disaster
As of 20 January 2021, there were 1,790 confirmed cases with 8 deaths, an 11% increase in the number of cases since the last published Surveillance Report in October 2020. Previously, in an official bulletin dated 20 October 2020, the Ministry of Health, Wellness, and the Environment had confirmed an increase in reported cases of Dengue infection in the country with 1,155 laboratory confirmed cases of Dengue fever recorded and six fatalities. The Hospital Services and the Community Health Services Programmes of the MOHWE continued to report increases in the number of patients presenting with symptoms consistent with Dengue fever.
No community spread
Health Minister St. Clair ‘Jimmy’ Prince was adamant that given the WHO definition, there was no community spread of the coronavirus in SVG.
By: Dayle Da Silva•
Minister of Health St Clair ‘Jimmy’ Prince maintains that the transmission of the COVID-19 virus here in St Vincent and the Grenadines is not to be categorized under community spread.
He made the statement during last Wednesday’s sitting of the House of Assembly in answer to a question posed by Leader of the Opposition Dr. Godwin Friday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defined community spread as being evidenced by the inability to relate confirmed cases through chains of transmission for a large number of cases, or by increasing positive tests through sentinel samples.