Hinds: Surge in COVID transmissions stems from Easter weekend

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Rishard Khan

[email protected]

Technical Director of the Ministry of Health’s Epidemiology Division, Dr Avery Hinds, says one of the driving factors for the current surge in COVID cases were congregations around the time of the Easter weekend.

“We’re now seeing the effects as this week’s figures roll out. We’re seeing that two-week gap between Easter and now being followed by that large surge,” he said while presenting the epidemiologic data during yesterday’s virtual press conference.

Hinds noted: “We have actually picked up pace (in positive cases) and that that advanced pace has been maintained over the last couple of weeks.

“This is a cause for concern because this represents a surge in the transmission.”

This, in turn, he said, has led to a steadily increasing seven-day rolling average.

He also noted that the ministry is also observing a higher rate of positivity among the population, which now stands at 25 per cent and is expected to rise by the week’s end, surpassing last week’s.

A few weeks ago, the country was at low levels of community transmission of the virus, with the majority of cases occurring in clusters. However, according to the data presented yesterday, the country is now in widespread community transmission, with the virus having an increasing presence in all medical counties.

Trends emerging from contact tracing, Hinds said, include spread occurring in workplaces, places of worship and during “bar hopping.”

In an attempt to reduce transmission at these locations, the Government mandated the Public Service to return to a rotational shift system and to operate a 50 per cent capacity. It also reduced the number of people allowed to congregate for religious services from 50 per cent of the venue’s capacity to 25 per cent. It also reduced the number of people allowed at funerals and weddings to 10.

Yesterday, the ministry confirmed 81 new cases from samples collected between April 18 and 20. It took the number of active cases to 1,023 – the highest since October 30, 2020, which was 1,106.

Since April 1, the country has recorded some 1,190 cases and 15 deaths, the majority of which came in the last seven days. From April 14 to present, 704 cases have been recorded, along with 11 fatalities.