BELIZE CITY. Thurs. Mar. 11, 2021– Across the country, persons who fall within the priority groups selected for vaccination in the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination rollout are currently being giving their first jabs of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Those who are healthcare workers, citizens over the age of 60, and persons who are living with HIV or cancer, or are on dialysis are being called by the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) to pre-register and make an appointment to be vaccinated.
On Monday, March 8, the Ministry of Health and Wellness received 25,000 Covid-19 vaccines from the government and people of India. These vaccines have kept our inoculation program rolling; however, since there an estimated 4,000 healthcare workers and approximately 30,000 persons over 60 years old within our population, around 9000 persons from the first and second parts of the first phase of the rollout will be left without a jab after the current vaccine supply is exhausted, and will thus be forced to wait for the COVAX facility’s allocation.
This allocation of vaccines should arrive in the country, hopefully, by the end of April and is expected to be sufficient to vaccinate around 30% of our population. Until then the MOHW is continuing to urge all citizens and visitors to the country to continue to adhere to all the Covid-19 prevention protocols in place.
Recent data shows a total of 12,389 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country since the start of the pandemic. Of those cases, 65 remain active at this time, and 11,972 have been marked as recovered. Unfortunately, 2 new fatalities have been added to our list of casualties, taking the total number of deaths caused by COVID-19 to 316.. In total, since the start of the pandemic 89,853 COVID-19 tests have been conducted throughout the country.
On March 11, the MOHW announced that 4 new cases had been discovered after a batch of 644 tests were conducted. A total of 10 recoveries were recorded and no new deaths were logged on that day. One person with COVID-19 was hospitalized on that day but did not require intensive care.
Ten new cases of the virus were found on the previous day, March 10, from a batch of 622 tests processed. Five persons were marked as having recovered from the virus. Of the three hospitalizations recorded on that day, no one needed intensive care and fortunately, no new death related to COVID-19 was recorded on that day.
Over the long weekend, however, one new death was recorded — a male person from the Belize District. From March 6th to the 9th a total of 11 new cases were found across the country and two hospitalizations were recorded, but neither of the two patients needed intensive care.
On Friday, March 5, a total of 6 new cases were found in a batch of 467 tests done. Unfortunately, one new death was also recorded on that day — a male person from the Orange Walk District.
Internationally, the New York Times has reported that around 325.5 million persons have been vaccinated across the world. However, there is already a disparity between the number of persons being vaccinated in developed countries and the number of persons receiving vaccines In developing countries, with the lower-income countries lagging behind. According to ourworldindata.com, Belize has vaccinated 0.6% of its population so far.
Globally, as of 5:04 p.m. CET, March 11, 2021, there have been 117,799,584 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 2,615,018 deaths, reported to WHO. As of March 9, 2021, a total of 268,205,245 vaccine doses have been administered.