Biggest one day jump in 10 months; TCI gets 41 new COVID cases in two days

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, December 24, 2021 – For the first time in 10 months, the TCI recorded its largest day jump in COVID cases. As of Wednesday, Dec 22, the Ministry of Health’s daily dashboard showed 30 new cases were detected from 97 PCR tests; 27 in Providenciales, two in Grand Turk, and one in Parrot Cay.

It is the first time Parrot Cay has seen a case positive result in months; the private resort island was reporting 100 per cent vaccinated.

The last time TCI recorded 30 new cases in a day was on February 20; a bigger record day was on February 18, the day before the TCI General Elections when 56 new cases were charted.  At that time, there were over 300 active cases.  After 11 more Covid-19 positives (from 59 PCR tests) reflected on Thursday, there ae 78 active cases in Turks and Caicos at this time.

Within the last seven days, TCI recorded one Covid-related death; described by the TCI Hospitals as a middle-aged woman, who was the second coronavirus death in December.   The death toll since the start of the pandemic for Turks and Caicos is 26.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of Health and Human Services said that the spike was not of serious concern as long as it did not begin a trend, and so far it has not.  The Minister, in an interview explained, he would be watching hospitalisations.

Currently there is no one hospitalised with Covid-19 complications in the British overseas territory, which currently has an 80 per cent fully vaccinated rate; 11 per cent have taken the booster shot.

Minister Robinson encouraged islanders to be personally responsible for their health this Christmas by avoiding high risk situations.

At the same time, Robinson said TCIG is awaiting test results from CARPHA after sending out samples last week.  Until then, the TCI is operating as if Omicron is already present.