News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. March 9, 2020: The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus cases in the Caribbean continues to rise, with latest data from the World Health Organization and the Dominican Republic putting the number of confirmed cases at 12.
The French Caribbean territories has been largely impacted by COVID-19 with French Guiana reporting 5 cases, according to the WHO, the most of any Caribbean country.
Martinique and Saint Martin, both territories of France in the Caribbean, have reported two each, respectively. In Saint Martin, the two infected persons are currently in isolation at the hospital there.
The Dominican Republic said it now also has two cases as of Saturday. In a press conference, Public Health minister Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas, said the second case is a female Canadian tourist who was admitted to the military hospital at San Isidro Airbase.
He said her husband showed no symptoms. Both were staying at a Bayahibe hotel, as was the case of the Italian tourist, the first case in the country. The Italian man, 62, arrived in the Caribbean country from Pesaro, Italy, on February 22. Two days later he began to show symptoms of fever, persistent cough and general malaise, so he was isolated.
St. Barths, another French Caribbean territory, has reported one case.
The news comes as The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), based in Trinidad and Tobago, raised the risk of coronavirus transmission (COVID-19) across the Caribbean region, from moderately high to “very high.”
In a statement released on Friday, it states that the decision is based on international guidelines for health risk assessment.
Meanwhile, WHO data show that across Latin America, the number of confirmed cases of the disease is almost 60. Globally, there are some 3,639 cases in 103 countries. Some 3,639 deaths have been reported.
