BELIZE CITY, Sun. Dec. 6, 2020– The World Health Organization reported 66,422,058 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally as of December 7, 2020. Over half a million new cases have been detected over the past day, and a total of 1,532,418 deaths are recorded to date. The deadly virus continues to wreak havoc in the United States of America, India, Brazil, and across Europe.
On the vaccine front, Britain has authorized the emergency use of Pfizer’s vaccine. In November the New York-based company, in collaboration with BioNTech, of Germany, announced that their coronavirus vaccine was over 90% effective. Moderna has also reported a similar level of effectiveness for their vaccine.
Pfizer and Moderna will participate in meetings with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the 10th and 17th of December respectively, and it is expected that a decision on whether these vaccines will be authorized will be reached at these meetings. The current vaccines are two-dose vaccines and will be administered weeks apart. As previously reported, Belize has made a partial payment toward its commitment to securing vaccines from the COVAX facility, which is tasked with ensuring ethical vaccine distribution across low-income nations.
Zooming in closer to home, we are seeing increased testing and higher numbers of new cases due to the roll-out of the antigen rapid test across the country. As of December 6, 2020, a total of 43,194 tests have been done in Belize, from a total of 30,695 persons. A total of 7,769 confirmed cases were found on that day, Sunday, December 6. Of that number, 3,747 remain active. A total of 173 deaths have been recorded to date in the country, which amounts to a fatality rate of 2.23%. Currently, 49.5% percent of our cases remain active, and 3,849 recoveries have been recorded to date.
On December 6, 771 tests were processed, and 168 new cases were identified. On that day, 31 active COVID-19 hospitalizations were recorded, with 4 of the hospitalized patients needing intensive care. One new death was also recorded on that day. About 889 cases remain under investigation, and 97 additional patients recovered.
A total of 45 new cases were found in the Belize District on that day, with 35 found in Belize City. Persons in those areas with high transmission are asked to remain self-isolated and wear a mask at all times in public or around others outside their immediate family.
On December 5, 218 new cases were identified from a batch of 555 tests that were processed. Two new deaths were recorded on that day, and also 27 recoveries. A high number of new cases were once again found in the Belize District — 73 in total, 56 of which were found in the city.
Six new deaths were recorded on December 4. A total of 833 tests were conducted, and 147 new cases were identified. About 154 recoveries were recorded in data released on that day.