NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to creep closer to The Bahamas as three more countries in the Caribbean reported their first cases of the virus on Thursday.
The Bahamas had no suspected or confirmed cases of the virus, which causes COVID-19, as of yesterday.
Cuba, The Bahamas neighbor to the south, reported three cases of the virus Thursday morning.
Three Italian visitors, who arrived on Monday, tested positively for the virus after traveling to the Sancti Spiritus province.
The first case of Coronavirus was also detected in Guadeloupe on Thursday.
A 36-year-old woman who returned from a cruise and was confined tested positive for the virus.
She did not need to be hospitalized, according to health officials.
Guadeloupe made the decision to close nurseries, schools and universities until further notice.
Trinidad and Tobago also confirmed its first case of the virus Thursday afternoon.
Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh said the patient, a 52-year-old citizen, returned from Switzerland on Monday.
Four other countries in the Caribbean reported cases of the virus this week.
The Dominican Republic had five confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday — four of whom recently arrived from Italy and a Canadian visitor.
Its first case was reported earlier this month.
Jamaica reported its second case of COVID-19 on Wednesday — a US embassy employee who returned from the United Kingdom.
Its first case was also imported from the United Kingdom, according to health officials.
Efforts were underway to curb the spread of the disease in Martinique, which had three confirmed cases of the virus as of Tuesday.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines registered its first case of COVID-19 Wednesday night — a woman who had travelled from the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rican officials said Wednesday night they were tracing the movement of a Panamanian who spend the weekend in the country and returned to Panama, where she tested positively for COVID-19.
Governor Wanda Vazquez declared a state of emergency that would allow the activation of the National Guard.
While several media reports asserted Guyana had observed its first case of the virus this, Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence said Wednesday there was no evidence of a case from “a medical standpoint”.
Nineteen other countries in the Caribbean have yet to report cases of the virus.
These included Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, Caribbean Netherlands and Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Turks and Caicos Islands and United States Virgin Islands. Article written by: Royston Jones Jr. from EWNEWS. Cover photo courtesy https://buzz-caribbean.com/
