Another 72 people test positive for COVID-19

Testing on Friday identified another 72 people – 32 males and 40 females – positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Barbados, health authorities said on Saturday.

It is the first time in almost three months that health authorities have reported less than 100 new COVID-19 cases in a single day.

The new cases were picked up out of the 1 204 tests conducted by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory.

The last time health authorities reported less than 100 cases was on September 19, when the public health laboratory identified 74 cases.

To date, the lab has carried out 450 060 tests since February last year and recorded 26 740 cases (12,730 males and 14,010 females) of COVID-19 in the island.

Of the new cases, nine were young people under the age of 18, and the remainder were adults 18 years and older.

Health authorities also said there were 292 people in government isolation facilities, and 1 825 in home isolation.

In addition, health authorities said at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccines had been administered to 154 444 people (67.6 per cent of the eligible population of the island) under the national vaccination programme for the viral illness.

So far, 139 726 (51.6 per cent of the total population or 61.2 per cent of the eligible population) are fully vaccinated against the viral illness.

The eligible population for COVID-19 vaccines in the island represents anyone 12 years and older.

(BGIS/AR)