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COVID-19 update

HeadlineCOVID-19 update

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Sept. 16, 2021– Today, members of the Covid-19 Medical Response Team gave the public a situational report as well as additional updates on the new regulations announced by Prime Minister John Briceño last night during his pre-recorded message.

The country has so far endured 18 epidemiological months of the Covid-19 pandemic and since March of last year, there have been a total of 18,334 confirmed cases in Belize, and an overall positivity rate of 7.87 %. Of those persons who tested positive for the virus, a total of 16,409 have recovered, 389 have passed away (141 women and 248 men), and currently 1514 are actively infected with the COVID-19 virus.

Today, September 16, 2021, an additional 4 deaths were added to the list of fatalities — three men and one woman. Two of the victims were from Orange Walk, one from the Belize District, and another from Toledo.

Belize City can be considered the new epicenter of COVID-19 within the country; a large amount of cases, over 1000, is concentrated within Belize City according to the infographic heat map.

An explosion of cases in the third wave has led the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to update the current regulations. The curfew, which extended from 9 pm to 4 am, is now from 7 pm to 4 am, for two weeks, from September 20 to October 4. The country’s top tourist destinations – San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Placencia, and Hopkins – are not affected by this change, however.

Restaurants, except in the four special areas, can only provide take-out food for their customers. Churches and casinos have once again been ordered closed. Two no-movement days are set for Sunday, September 26, and Sunday, October 3rd. On these two days, persons will only be allowed to go out to buy food, fuel, seek medical attention, or travel to and from the PGIA.

Today, during the press conference hosted by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dr. Julio Sabido gave an update on hospitalizations since the rollout of the vaccination program began. He confirmed that some vaccinated persons have contracted the virus in Belize, breakthrough cases as they are now referred to, a few resulting in fatalities.

“From a subset of data within the time period of access to the Covid-19 vaccines, which is from June 1st to September 13, there were 187 Covid-19 admissions, of which 77.5 % of these admissions were unvaccinated patients, 16 % had only 1 dose, and 6.5 % had two doses”.Dr. Sabido shared.

As of 15th September, 178, 998 persons have received at least one jab of the Covid-19 vaccine, and a total of 86,430 persons have been fully vaccinated. A total of 18,343 children and youth between the ages of 12 and 17 have received at least one shot of the Pfizer vaccine, with many receiving a second dose recently.

A total of 1,373 new tests were processed today, September 16, and of that number 191 new cases were found; 147 persons were marked as recovered and 32 hospitalizations were logged, 6 of them needing intensive care (ICU).

As mentioned, four deaths were recorded today, 1 woman and 3 men, two of them coming from Orange Walk, one from Toledo, and one from the Belize District. Today, a total of 55 cases were found in the Belize District, 32 in Orange Walk, 47 in Cayo, 33 in Stann Creek, and 12 in Toledo. At this time there are 1,514 active cases in the country.

Yesterday, Wednesday, 15th September, a total of 1,398 tests were processed and 40 active hospitalizations were logged, with 9 persons receiving ICU treatment. From the tests processed, 176 new cases were logged and two additional fatalities were recorded, one man and one woman, the victims from the Orange Walk and Belize Districts. Of the 79 cases found in the Belize District yesterday, 60 cases were identified in Belize City.

On September 14, a total of 200 new cases were identified across the country from a batch of 1,261 tests processed. 39 persons had to be hospitalized, with 10 needing treatment in the ICU, and 157 new recoveries were recorded. 113 of the cases identified were in the Belize District, with 85 of them in Belize City.

Data recorded from September 10th to the 13th showed 362 cases from a batch of 3,444 tests processed. A total of 9 deaths were recorded over the period, 3 women and 6 men. Four of the deceased persons were from the Belize District, one from Corozal, two from Orange Walk and two from Cayo. Of the 40 hospitalizations logged, nine of them needed intensive care. 335 recoveries were noted.

On Thursday, September 9th, a total of 154 cases were found from 1,404 tests that were processed. 37 persons were actively hospitalized with COVID-19, 7 in the ICU. Four deaths were recorded, two men and two women, one from the Corozal District, and one each from the Belize, Cayo, and Stann Creek Districts. A total of 86 recoveries were reported.

As previously reported, at the start of October persons will be mandated to present a COVID-19 vaccination card or a recent negative PCR test to enter all public buildings.

Globally, as of 4:18 pm CEST, 16 September 2021, there have been 226,236,577 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 4,654,548 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 15 September 2021, a total of 5,634,533,040 vaccine doses have been administered.

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