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by pltm
(PLTM) - The Virgin Islands is moving to shut down several businesses with new curfew restrictions as five more cases of COVID-19 were announced following a late-night Cabinet session.
Minister of Health, Hon. Carvin Malone made the disclosure shortly before midnight this evening, August 24 in a live address to the Territory.
According to the Minister, with the five new cases, the Territory now has 17 active cases.
"Over this past weekend, five new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed through PCR testing at the Dr. D. Orlando Smith Hospital, bringing the total number of cases detected in the Territory to 26. Seventeen of these cases remain active, with eight recoveries and one death recorded after testing a total of 2,195 persons in our local laboratory," the Minister stated.
He shared that Case #22 was detected while obtaining treatment at the Emergency Room.
"Our Contact Tracing teams have been working to identify and quarantine primary and secondary contacts connected to this patient. A total of 46 contacts of recent cases have been tested during the past week," Hon. Malone stated.
Given the circumstances, the BVI is classified as having a cluster of cases.
The Health Minister disclosed that a new 14-day curfew will take effect on Wednesday, August 26 from 5:01 p.m to 4:59 a.m.
Further, it was decided that in the first seven days of the Curfew period, certain categories of businesses will be allowed to operate, subject to review. These include supermarkets/minimarts (limited to two persons per vehicle); approved delivery services; pharmacies/drug stores; bakeries; banks (with limited internal operations, such as, but not limited to clearing of overnight deposits services); farmers and fisheries; fuel and LPG Stations; private health care providers, subject to the approval of their client list by the Minister of Health; burials, subject to approval by the Minister of Health; essential workers as defined in Section 3 of the Labour Code; and exempted persons as listed in the current Curfew Order, except item (n). The Health Minister explained that local health teams continue to carry out aggressive contact tracing and testing in an effort to mitigate and contain the spread of the virus.
Persons who are experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19 are encouraged to contact the Medical Hotline at 852-7650 to schedule an appointment for testing. Common symptoms include fever, cough, headache, fatigue, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, muscle aches, or difficulty breathing.
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