Ministry of Health Media Release
May 23, 2021
Issued By: Office of the Chief Medical Officer
On Saturday May 22, 2021, the Ministry of Health, announced that St. Kitts and Nevis had recorded one additional case of Covid-19, bringing to 50 the total number of confirmed cases of the virus in the Federation.
This morning, I wish to update you on the present situation. Since the previous media release last night, we have recorded two(2) additional cases as a result of the contact tracing exercise that is currently on the way as a result of case #46. Case #51 and Case #52 are nationals and both have had close contact with case #49.The individuals are in isolation at a COVID-19 certified facility.
These additional cases bring the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases to 52 with 38 cases for St. Kitts and 14 cases for Nevis. Please note that 45 cases have fully recovered with zero deaths. There are now seven(7) active cases. These patients are stable and are being monitored.
The Ministry of Health continues its robust contact tracing exercise which began on Wednesday May 19, 2021. The process will continue over this holiday weekend and into next week. We will continue to identify, assess and test contacts of these cases. The aim is to break the chains of transmission of the SARS CoV-2 virus and contain this cluster of COVID-19 cases. The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the public that all measures are being taken to restrict the spread of coronavirus.
We continue to urge you to adhere to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures. These include wearing a face mask when in public places, maintaining good hand hygiene, maintaining physical distance of at least 6 feet from others when in public places and avoiding crowds and events. These non-pharmaceutical measures work, and we are encouraging you to comply with them especially at this time.
COVID-19 vaccine is a pharmaceutical tool/measure that is now being employed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Health launched its national COVID-19 vaccination program over 12 weeks ago and to date 17.7% of the target population has been fully vaccinated and 47.3 % of the target population has been covered with the first dose. We continue to encourage persons to empower themselves with the facts about the benefits of the AstraZeneca Oxford Vaccine and accept it. The AstraZeneca vaccine is the best shot at protecting ourselves from COVID-19.
Let us work together to maintain and protect the health and wellbeing of the people of the Federation. #Vaccines–Work #Do–Not–Wait-Vaccinate
