RECORD: Five deaths reported in single day, 93 more COVID cases

Joint press conference to be held Monday to explain deaths, and current epidemiology

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Ministry of Health today confirmed a record five COVID deaths, alongside 93 new cases of the virus.

Of the deaths recorded, four were COVID-19-related.

Among them were two women of New Providence, one of whom was 71-years-old, a 54-year-old woman of Abaco, and a 45-year-old man of Eleuthera.

Details were not provided for the death that was considered non-COVID-related.

“Today, for the first time, there are five deaths reported in one day,” the Ministry of Health said.

There have been 11 deaths in the last six days.

The total death toll now stands at 27, a figure health officials called “unfortunate”.

The ministry said more information regarding the recent deaths and “other epidemiological details” regarding the virus will be presented at a joint press conference on Monday.

During the first wave of the pandemic in The Bahamas, which spanned from mid-March to the end of June, there were 11 deaths — seven men and four women.

Eight of those deaths took place in New Providence, two in Grand Bahama, and one in Bimini.

At the time, the case mortality rate, the number of virus-related-deaths compared to the total number of cases in the country stood at over 10 percent, well above global standards.

Today, health officials pointed out the CFR is a measure of the “deadliness of a disease”.

“During the first wave, the case fatality rate for The Bahamas appeared to be higher than many other countries in the region,” the Ministry of Health said.

In the ongoing second wave, the first two deaths were recorded on July 30 — more than three months since the last recorded death.

“Since then there have been sixteen 16 deaths on record within the space of seven weeks,” the ministry continued.

“The case fatality rate now stands at 1.58 percent.

“Although the number of deaths at this time is somewhat comparable to the first wave, The Bahamas has experienced many more confirmed COVID-19 cases during the second wave.”

Today, there were 93 more COVID-19 cases confirmed in The Bahamas, pushing total cases to 1,703.

As of July 1, there were 104 cases.

This represents an increase of 1,599 confirmed cases in less than two months since the reopening of the country’s borders to international commercial carriers at the beginning of July.

Of the new cases yesterday, 63 were in New Providence, which continues to lead in cases since the island surpassed Grand Bahama in recent weeks; 19 in Grand Bahama; two in Inagua, one in the Berry Islands, one in Abaco, one in Acklins and six cases pending locations.

The case in Acklins was the first recorded on the islands.

In a statement, the Office of the Prime Minister said health officials were monitoring four more suspected cases on the island and three suspected cases in Crooked Islands. The case and suspected cases prompted the competent authority to impose the previously lifted emergency orders on both islands. This includes the 10pm to 5am curfew.

New Providence surpassed the 1,000 milestone with 1,013 confirmed total cases today.

Of the total cases, there were 534 in Grand Bahama, 45 in Bimini, 45 in Abaco, 15 in the Berry Islands, eight in Cat Island, six in Exuma, five in Eleuthera, four in Inagua, one in Andros, one in Acklins and 26 cases pending locations.

A total of 1,450 cases remain active, while 221 have recovered.

This represents a marginal increase over the 211 recovered cases reported yesterday.

Hospitalized cases also increased today — from 62 to 77.

Additionally, 8,778 tests have been completed — 329 more compared to the 8,449 tests completed reported on Thursday.

Amid rising cases and deaths, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis imposed an immediate seven-day lockdown last Monday. However, amid widespread public backlash about a lack of time to prepare, the prime minister reversed the decision.

He explained that the reversal was made after listening to the concerns of the public and to allow time to prepare for a potential tropical storm, which has since been confirmed as Tropical Storm Laura.

The storm is expected to become a hurricane as it approaches Florida on Monday.

The storm, however, has shifted west, placing The Bahamas outside of the cone of its path.

The development has led some to believe a lockdown could be reintroduced.

Among them were Bains and Grand Town MP Travis Robinson, who said in a Facebook post that he expected a new seven-day lockdown to be introduced once the storm passes.