SITUATION UPDATE
According to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Situation Report No. 32 (issued on April 8, 2020), up to 33 countries in the Caribbean region have reported the importation of at least one confirmed case of COVID-19. The risk of further importation of cases to the Caribbean Region remains Very High. The aim for all countries now, is to stop transmission, prevent the spread of the virus and save lives.
Based on the Draft CARPHA Health Sector Response Guidelines for COVID-19 circulated to Member States, most countries are encouraged to implement actions in keeping with the Initial or Targeted Action in the Response Phase. In an opinion piece authored by WHO’s Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and The International Monetary Fund’s Kristalina Georgieva discussed what they called a false dilemma: ‘’the trade-off between saving lives and saving jobs’. Their joint appeal especially to policymakers in emerging market and developing economies, is for them to ‘recognise that protecting public health and putting people back to work go hand-in-hand’.
Since the previous report on April 6, 2020, no countries reported their first confirmed case of COVID-19 within the Caribbean region. Additional cases, however, were confirmed in 22 countries, bringing the region’s total confirmed cases to 4,016 in 33 countries/territories; 24 (72%) of these are CARPHA Member States. This new total represents a 23% increase in the numbers of confirmed cases. Fifty-five (55) additional deaths were also recorded, bringing the total numbers of deaths to 185.
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