News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. April 21, 2020: The number of cases of the novel coronavirus in the Caribbean continues its steady upward march with the number of confirmed cases passing 8,700 last night.
According to a NAN analysis, the Caribbean now has 8,773 confirmed cases of the virus while the death tally has reached 411.
The Dominican Republic now has almost 5,000 cases as the country reported a total of 4,964 cases Monday. Its death toll is now at 235.
Puerto Rico has the second highest cases of COVID-19 in the Caribbean with 1,252 cases and 63 deaths while Cuba reached 1,087 cases Monday and 36 deaths.
Jamaica’s case tally spiked to 223 Monday, the fourth highest now in the region and the top for the English-speaking Caribbean. But it has only had 5 deaths to date.
Here’s where the rest of the region stacked up as of last night in terms of cases and deaths:
Martinique – 163 cases and 12 deaths
Guadeloupe – 148 cases and 8 deaths
Trinidad and Tobago – 114 plus 8 deaths
Aruba – 97 plus two deaths
French Guiana – 97 plus one death
Bermuda – 86 and 5 deaths
Barbados – 75 and 5 deaths
Sint Maarten – 67 plus 10 deaths
Guyana – 66 plus 7 deaths
Cayman Islands – 66 plus one death
Bahamas – 60 plus 9 deaths
Haiti –57 plus 3 deaths
US Virgin Islands – 53 plus 3 deaths
St. Martin – 37 plus 2 deaths
Antigua & Barbuda – 23 plus 3 deaths
Belize – 18 plus 2 deaths
Dominica – 16
St. Lucia – 15
Saint Kitts & Nevis – 15
Curacao – 14 cases plus 1 death
Grenada – 14
Vincent and the Grenadines – 12
Montserrat – 11
Turks & Caicos – 11 plus 1 death
Suriname – 10 plus one death
St. Barth – 6
British Virgin Islands – 5 plus 1 death
Anguilla – 3
Sint Eustatius and Saba – 3
UNICEF
The news comes as UNICEF said yesterday it is scaling up the shipment of medical equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE), to countries affected by the pandemic in the region.
In the past three weeks, UNICEF has delivered vital medical supplies to 15 countries across the Caribbean and Latin America including hygiene and personal protective equipment distributed in health facilities included masks, gowns, gloves, disposable face shields, goggles, coveralls and hand sanitizer for frontline health workers; as well as soap and water supplies for handwashing.
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica in the Caribbean were the first countries to receive UNICEF supplies in the region earlier this month. UNICEF is planning to ship about 52 tonns of vital supplies to be distributed in the coming weeks and months across Latin America and the Caribbean for COVID19 response, including among others:
• 220,000 face masks
• 50,000 coveralls
• 32,400 disposable face shields
• 1,500 goggles
• 2,400 thermometers
• 500 test kits
•       65 oxygen concentrators
THE WORLD BANK
The World Bank, meanwhile, activated US$6.6 million on April 15 to provide immediate funding for Dominica’s emergency response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, focusing on enhancing health system capacity and strengthening food security.
From the total amount activated, US$5.1 million will be used to bolster the capacity of Dominica’s public health system to manage COVID-19. Funds will be available to purchase drugs, medical supplies and equipment, and laboratory supplies to boost testing capacity and for minor retrofitting of isolation units.
