Another person has died from COVID-19, bringing the number deaths from the infectious disease to 238.
The disease’s latest victim is a 63 year-old man from St Elizabeth, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has reported in its November 21 Clinical Management Summary. Males appear to be more susceptible to dying from the disease.
The number of deaths places the country’s case fatality ratio at 2.3 per cent, which is above the current rate of 2.1 per cent the Johns Hopkins University has calculated for the United States. The case fatality ratio is the proportion of deaths to COVID-19 cases. Mexico continues to have the highest case fatality ratio of 9.8 per cent.
Eleven people are critically ill in hospital and 19 are moderately ill, the health ministry says. A total of 80 people are hospitalised.
At the same time, 44 more people have been confirmed with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, bringing the total number of recorded infections since March 10 to 10,284. However, there were 24 new recoveries, which means that more than half the cases (53.5 per cent) have now recovered from the disease. There are currently 4,398 active cases of COVID-19.
Clarendon, St Thomas and Portland were the only parishes not to record new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. St Ann recorded the highest number of new cases, with 13 people testing positive; St Catherine recorded 10 and the Corporate Area, eight new cases. Westmoreland and Hanover each had three new cases, while Trelawny, St Elizabeth and St James each recorded one new case of COVID-19.
The health ministry has warned that a huge spike in COVID-19 cases following Christmas, which could put pressure on hospital bed spaces.
The government is yet to make a decision on whether restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will be relaxed for the festive season. Business interests, including the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association, have been pushing for a relaxation of especially the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew hours, to boost economic activity.
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