The Caribbean has Recorded More Than 300,000 Confirmed Covid Cases and 6,700 Deaths Since March 2020

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders have expressed “deep concern” at the significant increase in the number of deaths and positive cases linked to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in recent months in the region.

The CARICOM leaders met in a “Special Emergency Meeting” virtually on Monday to consider a regional response to the recent surge in infections, hospitalizations and deaths due to the pandemic.

No official statement has yet been released by the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat regarding the outcome of the deliberations, but well-placed sources told CMC Tuesday that the regional leaders “expressed deep concern at the increase with more than 100,000 new cases and 1400 deaths between July 2021 and 12 September 2021”.

According to the sources, the meeting received an update on the pandemic from the Executive Director of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), Dr. Joy St. John, which noted that since the outbreak in March 2020, the Caribbean has recorded more than 300,000 confirmed cases with more than 6,700 deaths.

The sources quoted Dr. St John as stressing that the percentage of deaths was “exceedingly” high among unvaccinated people with less than 1 percent of deaths recorded by persons who were vaccinated.

The CARICOM leaders expressed dismay at the rate of vaccination in the 15-member grouping and the significant incidence of vaccine hesitancy.

According to CARPHA, as of September 3, vaccine coverage ranged from 58.7 per cent in Bermuda to 0.1 percent in Haiti.

The meeting was told that no country was close to herd immunity and the regional leaders are strongly urging Caribbean people to get vaccinated, noting that failure to do so puts the health sector at great risk of being overwhelmed by the surge of Covid-19 cases.

The sources told CMC that the regional leaders called particularly on the frontline workers, such as nurses, doctors, security personnel and teachers to avail themselves of the vaccines given their critical roles in the society.

CARICOM leaders also warned that the threat to the health, economic, education and security sectors was real, and called on all stakeholders to come together on this issue in the interest of the stability of the member states and the community on a whole.