Confirmed COVID-19 Cases Move To 396

As of today (April 29), the country has 396 confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

This update was given by Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, during a virtual press conference at the Ministry’s offices in New Kingston.

The number represents 32 new positive cases in the last 48 hours.

“Of the 32 new cases, there are 11 males and 21 females with ages ranging from one to 71 years. Fifteen are associated with the workplace cluster in St. Catherine. Eleven cases are contacts of confirmed cases, and one imported case and five others are under investigation,” Dr. Tufton noted.

“Of the 396 confirmed cases, 202 are employees of the workplace cluster [Alorica call centre] in St. Catherine. Their ages range from 18 to 53 years. They include 151 females and 51 males. They are primarily from the parishes of St. Catherine, and Kingston and St. Andrew,” he added.

In the last 48 hours, one person from another business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in Kingston tested positive for COVID-19.

“The employee, a resident of St. Catherine, has been placed in isolation at a government facility. The health departments in Kingston and St. Andrew, and St. Catherine have begun contact tracing to ascertain those who may have come in contact with the employee,” Dr. Tufton said.

The BPO has been temporarily closed for cleaning, and on recommendation, some employees will be sampled based on the risk assessment.

Relating to this BPO case, Minister Tufton said, “it is not determined at this time that the individual who has tested positive picked up the virus from the particular facility”.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has done 3,993 samples of tests for COVID-19, of which 3,567 are negative and 30 are pending.

There are 385 persons in isolation and 89 in quarantine in a government facility, seven persons have died and 29 persons have recovered.

SOURCE: JIS