NASSAU, BAHAMAS — New cases of the coronavirus in The Bahamas trended upward 35 percent in the last week compared to the week before.
Between September 20 and September 26, there were 523 recorded cases of the virus.
During the period September 13 through September 19, there were 387 new cases, a decrease of eight percent over the 422 cases recorded between September 6 through 12.
Testing for the virus was up between the two periods, albeit marginally.
A total of 2,017 tests were performed between September 20 and 26, compared to the 1,926 tests completed between September 13 and 19.
There were 2,443 tests performed between September 6 and 12.
As of September 26, 19,026 tests had been performed.
As of Monday, only 135 more tests had been completed, bringing the total up to 19,161.
The vast majority of new cases continue to be recorded in New Providence which has the largest number of infections and more than four times more cases than any other island.
A closer look at the data provided by the Ministry of Health shows that cases in New Providence trended upward 46 percent period over period — 468 cases last week (September 20-26) compared to the 319 cases recorded the week before (September 13-19).
Grand Bahama, which has the second-largest number of cases in The Bahamas, saw a 35 percent decline in cases week over week.
Between September 20 and 26, there were 13 new cases recorded in Grand Bahama, compared to the 20 new cases reported between September 13 and 19.
Analysis of cases reported reflect an increase, but the data does not account for the timeframe in which samples were collected or whether there is a backlog of samples, as this information is not provided on the COVID-19 dashboards.
The cases recorded in the last week are also up 41 percent compared to four weeks ago, where 370 new cases were recorded between August 30 and September 5.
During the same period, there were 272 new cases recorded in New Providence.
During debate in Parliament last week to extend the public state of emergency to October 31, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said based on global trends The Bahamas will likely face a third wave.
However, Minnis said the emergency measures, particularly wearing masks, which he said is just as “effective as the vaccine”; social distancing; and proper sanitization will mitigate against a third wave and “lessen the need to impose the most restrictive measures such as lockdowns”.
At the time, the prime minister suggested The Bahamas was nearing the end of the second wave.
However, the data does not reflect a significant reduction in cases or tapering off of cases as observed near the end of the first wave, which spanned from mid-March to the end of June.
In the last three weeks of June, there were no new cases recorded and total infections stood at 104.
On Monday, 65 new infections were recorded — all in New Providence — pushing the total number of cases up to 3,903.
There were 1,713 active cases and 2,072 recovered cases.
There were 92 hospitalized cases as of Monday.
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