The total number of active COVID-19 cases has once again crossed 2,000 after 217 cases were recorded by the Ministry of Health yesterday.
This is the largest number of cases to be confirmed by the Ministry of Health in one day.
The ministry, however, said the new confirmations did not represent a 24-hour increase as it included the results of samples taken as early as September 4.
The number of active cases yesterday stood at 2,005 and the total number of people to have contracted the virus locally since the first case was reported on March 12, at 3,651.
The total number of active cases locally had significantly dropped on Thursday after 655 people in home isolation were released by the ministry and four were discharged from hospital. This reduced the then active cases from 2,459 to 1,809.
In light of the shift to home isolation, a new category was added to the ministry’s update called “recovered community cases” which refers to people “who were previously COVID-19 positive and in self-isolation at home and subsequently met the discharge criteria and were released from self-isolation.”
Nine patients in home isolation and eight patients from hospital were also discharged by the ministry. This means that 1,586 people have recovered from the virus locally.
No additional deaths were recorded yesterday, with the count staying at 60. In light of this, T&T dropped one ranking to become the CARICOM country with the fifth-highest number of deaths, surpassed by Guyana which now has 62 deaths.
Haiti remains at the top of the ranking with 221 deaths, followed by Suriname with 95 deaths and the Bahamas with 69.
According to the latest data provided by the ministry earlier this week, deaths locally have been predominantly male, elderly and in patients with comorbidities.
—Rishard Khan