BELIZE CITY, Thurs. June 10, 2021– The Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage on globally, with no end in sight. The disparity in vaccination efforts across countries can now clearly be seen just 15 months into the pandemic.
In Belize, we are engaged in an ongoing immunization program, but at an extremely slow pace. The Ministry of Health and Wellness created a rollout plan for the inoculation of various segments of the population, but is now calling all citizens to get vaccinated at authorized vaccination centers. The country is expecting to receive another allocation of vaccines from the COVAX facility shortly.
We have also seen the Health Ministry’s efforts to go into rural parts of the country to offer vaccination and testing as a part of its surveillance and response plan. Also, today, June 10, a mobile clinic was set up in Santa Cruz, on the compound of the primary school of that village, and villagers were offered free testing and vaccination. Earlier this week we reported on a Covid-19 cluster that was identified in that village, with the index case being a member of the primary school’s staff.
The Ministry of Health and Wellness is, as a result, continuing to call all teachers to get vaccinated. Recent data suggests that only about 50% of teachers have received at least their first jab already. This puts students and communities at large at an added risk of infection. The Health Ministry thus advised schools to close their doors and commence their summer break early, as they seek to increase the percentage of teachers vaccinated before the new school year.
The Minister of Health and Wellness told local media that they are currently looking to acquire some Pfizer vaccines that could be administered to children ages 12 and older. He said that the next step in our recovery would be to start to vaccinate those younger populations.
Today, June 10, 2021, the data from the Health Ministry shows a total of 8 new cases from a batch of 668 tests processed. A total of 4 additional recoveries were recorded and 3 persons were hospitalized today, with 2 needing intensive care. No additional deaths were recorded.
At this time a total of 126 actives cases of COVID-19 are within the country. A total of 12,928 confirmed cases have been identified since the start of the pandemic, with 12,460 of those infected person having already recovered. Out fatality count stands at 325 — a case fatality rate of 2.51 %.
Currently, 62 women and 64 men across the country are infected with the virus.
On Wednesday, June 9, a total of 7 new cases were found from a batch of 718 tests processed. Seven new recoveries were also processed and four hospitalizations were logged. Two of those hospitalized persons needed intensive care.
On June 8, 10 new cases were identified from 630 samples processed. No additional deaths were recorded, and 7 persons were marked as recovered.
Over the last weekend, from June 5 to June 7, officials from the Ministry of Health and Wellness closed in on the COVID-19 cluster in Santa Cruz village and isolated 13 cases in that area during those days. A total of 38 new cases were identified from the batch of 1705 tests processed. Four hospitalizations were recorded, with one person needing intensive care. Three persons were logged as recovered on that day.
And on Friday, June 4, a total of 21 new cases were found from a set of 926 tests. Five additional recoveries were recorded and 6 persons were hospitalized — one of whom needed intensive care.
Globally, the Biden administration has announced that it will be buying half a billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to distribute across the globe. The United States is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world, after being hit hard by the pandemic in the latter part of last year. Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, warns that unvaccinated persons may be at a higher risk of severe sickness from the new, more deadly variants.
One such variant is the Delta variant, first appearing in India in February 2021, and also known as the double-variant. This strain of the virus is said to be more transmissible. Reports are that the Delta variant accounts for 6% of the new cases of the virus across the world.
India continues to lag behind in vaccination as a 2nd wave of the virus leaves catastrophic loss of life in its wake. That South Asian country has reportedly experienced the world’s worst outbreak, with 400,000 cases being recorded each day. In that country, volunteers are forced to set up makeshift clinics and crematoriums in order to support thousands of ailing victims and their families.
In the UK, around two-thirds of all adults have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. At the start of the year, that country was hit hard by the Alpha or UK variant. Strict protocols have led to a steady decrease of infection across the British Isles, with no new death being recorded since May 9.
In Belize, the Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to urge all persons in the country to keep their guards up and adhere to all the protocols outlined in the COVID-19 regulations. The Ministry calls all eligible persons to start the vaccination process.