More than 400 COVID deaths reported

The COVID-19 death toll surpassed 400 on Tuesday night with the Ministry of Health confirming 10 additional COVID deaths between August 24 and 27.

Seven of the individuals were women between the ages of 27 and 70 and three were men between the ages of 43 and 65.

The Bahamas has seen a wave of COVID deaths in the last month. A total of 115 deaths have been confirmed in August, just over a fourth of the total number of deaths confirmed since the start of the pandemic.

On Tuesday morning the Ministry of Health reported 15 COVID-19 deaths between July 30 and August 23. On Monday, the ministry confirmed 27 deaths that were previously under investigation.

The official COVID-19 death count now stands at 406.

Twenty cases remain under investigation.

An additional 67 COVID-19 cases were reported on Monday.

Forty-six of those cases were reported on New Providence, seven on Grand Bahama, six on Eleuthera, four on Abaco, two on Exuma, one on Andros and one on Long Island.

There are 3,103 active cases.

As of Monday, 170 individuals with COVID-19 remained hospitalized.

The ministry said 82 of them were hospitalized at Princess Margaret Hospital, 54 at Doctors Hospital, six at South Beach Acute Care and Referral Centre, and 28 at Grand Bahama Health Services.

Twelve COVID-positive patients were in the Intensive Care Unit.

Minister of Health Renward Wells told reporters yesterday the ministry has hired additional doctors to assist in the COVID fight.

He added that the government is also 

looking to bring on an additional 100 nurses.

However, the minister expressed optimism that the number of COVID-19 infections will decrease soon.

“I do believe by the end of September, even before the next general election, we’re going to see a reduction in the numbers,” he said.

“We’ve seen it fluctuate and so we may see some numbers going down even before that time.”

He called on Bahamians and residents to exercise discipline.

“This is not our first rodeo as a people. We’ve been dealing with this from March of last year,” Wells said.

“… I believe that we’re going to be in a good place. At the end of the day, as long as we continue to vaccinate, we will get over this hump. 

“And, the reality is, if you look at the circumstances that took place in a place like Israel, the most vaccinated nation, once they began mass vaccinations, their numbers went down dramatically.

“… They’re now experiencing the Delta variant with their number creeping up and hospitalizations. But at the end of the day, the vaccination program has been shown to greatly reduce the number of positive cases.”

However, last week, Dr. Nikkiah Forbes, director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme, said the country has not yet seen the worst of this surge.

Forbes predicted that with the healthcare system already overwhelmed, more people will die before the situation improves.

“If we continue business as usual, there will be nothing to really stop the spread,” she warned.

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