Gibraltar starts vaccinating against Covid-19
Acting Medical Director Krishna Rawal received the first Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Gibraltar this morning.
At approximately 5am on Sunday morning staff from the GHA Pharmacy Team removed some of the vaccines, which arrived to both great fanfare and relief on Saturday evening, from the freezer in St Bernard’s Hospital so they would thaw.
At 8.44am district nurse Daniella Hernandez administered the first vaccine to Dr Rawal, the first of approximately 300 vaccines that will be injected on Sunday to GHA and Elderly Residential Services.
“I feel fine, perfect, absolutely great,” said Dr Rawal.
Grim news of four Covid deaths tempers joy of vaccine rollout
Nurses prepare to vaccinate residents at Hillsides on Sunday. 10th January 2021
Gibraltar recorded four Covid-related deaths on Sunday, tempering euphoria a day earlier following the arrival of the first shipment of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines from the UK.
The vaccine offers hope of a way out of the public health crisis that has upturned community life since last March.
The vaccination program started early on Sunday and will be rolled out in the coming days to frontline healthcare staff and the elderly.
But even as the Gibraltar Health Authority began vaccinating, the promise of hope came with a grim reminder that Gibraltar cannot escape the threat posed by Covid-19 to communities around the globe.
Major outbreak in ERS as 74 residents and staff test positive for Covid 5th January 2021
There are has been a major outbreak of Covid-19 in the Elderly Residential Services, with residents and staff from Mount Alvernia, the Jewish Home and John Mackintosh Home affected, the Gibraltar Government said on Tuesday.
In a press statement, No.6 Convent Place said it confirmed the news with great concern but that most residents and staff were asymptomatic, and the cases have been detected due to the rigorous swabbing programme.
Of the total 48 cases, 39 are in Mount Alvernia, four in the Jewish Home and five in the John Macintosh Home.
Gibraltar mourns a fourth death from Covid-19 in under a week
Jon Nazca/REUTERS 6th January 2021
Another person died from Covid-19 in Gibraltar on Tuesday, bringing the total number of deaths in the first six days of the year to four, compared to seven in the whole of 2020.
The grim news came against the backdrop of a sharp spike in the number of positive cases detected on the Rock over the past three weeks.
That presents this community with a stark reality.
While most of the cases recover without any complications, the larger the number of infected people, the more likely it is that some will require hospital care. It also increases the possibility that some may not pull through.
CM announces lockdown as virus cases jump by 172
Photo by Eyleen Gomez 1st January 2021
Gibraltar will go into lockdown as from 10pm on January 2 following on overnight increase of 172 positive Covid-19 cases that pushed the number of people with the virus in Gibraltar to 907.
The move to lockdown was announced by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo on social media and full details will be confirmed at a press conference at midday on January 2. After the huge increase in cases in the past days, and the high numbers expected to be reported tomorrow, I have chaired a virtual meeting of COVID PLATINUM today, Mr Picardo wrote on Facebook and Twitter.