TCI now has 51 people in self-quarantine; still no confirmed cases of COVID-19

#Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – March 22, 2020 — One person continues to be monitored in government isolation for COVID-19 in the Turks and Caicos Islands and now there are 51 individuals in self-quarantine.

The daily health update from the TCI Government on Saturday revealed there continues to be zero cases of the coronavirus for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The update, however, does reflect a sharp increase in how many people are now in self-quarantine within the TCI; though these individuals are said to not be exhibiting signs of the dreaded contagion.

“The increase in the number of persons under quarantine/observation, as compared to. yesterday, is predominately due to TCI residents returning from countries with local transmission, and contact tracing investigations which revealed greater numbers of contacts of the suspected cases.”

Over three days the self-quarantine figure has jumped from 28 on Thursday, to 32 people on Friday and now 51 are in self-quarantine as of Saturday March 21.

Six people under observation and in self-quarantine came to the Turks and Caicos from the UK, Italy, Austria and Spain.  Others have fallen into this category because they have had contact with a person who has recently travelled from a highly affected country. 

The TCI health dashboard, which is provided daily by the Health Promotion and Advocacy Unit of the Ministry of Health & Human Services, does explain there are four suspected cases for these islands.

“All 4 persons met the WHO case definition for a suspected case of COVID-19, thus they are experiencing symptoms. Results from 2 previously suspected cases have returned and are negative, 1 person has been added as a suspected case. Samples have been collected and sent for testing.”

For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health website, www.gov.tc/moh/coronavirus; email: COVID19@gov.tc; or call our hotline numbers, (649) 232-9444 and (649) 333-0911, if you or someone you know has symptoms or signs of COVID-19.