751 COVID-19 cases
NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The number of cases in New Providence has surpassed the number of cases in Grand Bahama as the country sees a significant second surge of coronavirus cases, which began in early July.
Health officials confirmed 30 new cases of COVID-19 in New Providence and six new infections on Grand Bahamas, taking the number of cases in the country to 751.
Of those cases, 342 are in New Providence, 336 are in Grand Bahama, 32 in Bimini, 10 in Moore’s Island, ninein Great Guana Cay, nine in the Berry Islands, six in Cat Cay, three in Cat Island, three in Exuma, and one in Abaco.
There are 644 actives cases in the country. The number of hospitalized cases now stands at 18.
The latest increases come just over a month after the country reopened its borders on July 1 – at which point the country had only recorded 104 cases.
Health officials have indicated that many cases have been linked to Bahamians traveling abroad, advising that some 4,246 Bahamians traveled internationally between July 1 and July 24. Many of those destinations were COVID-19 hotspots.
Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has announced a national lockdown for the entire country that will begin tomorrow at 10pm.
ICU beds and non-critical care beds have reaches capacity and healthcare workers are becoming compromised.
Minnis said the lockdown will last for a minimum of two weeks, and will be reassessed near the end of this period.
In a recent interview, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, who is a leader on WHO’s pandemic response team, urged countries not to reimpose national lockdowns due to the social and economic repercussions, and instead encouraged a localized strategies.
The prime minister has announced that a COVID-19 Enforcement Unit (CEU) has been established to help curb breaches of quarantine protocols and to carry out patrols of public spaces to ensure health guidelines are being followed,
To date, 25 police reserve officers have been trained and an additional 25 will be trained.
The government has also acquired 21 vehicles that will be properly outfitted with communications systems and deployed with police officers and individual ambassadors to patrol public spaces.
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