Over 20 Individuals Now Quarantined After COVID-19 Mishap in St. Kitts & Nevis.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 within the Caribbean St. Kitts and Nevis have held a stellar record in the management of the crisis. The Prime Minister of St. Kitts & Nevis, Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris, has boasted on several occasions of the limited number of cases with zero community spread and zero deaths within the Federation. However, yesterday, February 3, 2021, Inspector Cromwell Henry an official at the country’s National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) COVID-19 Taskforce, stated that there was a mishap in the protocols that resulted in a COVID-19 positive case being accidentally released from quarantine.
The Inspector stated that there have been errors in the COVID-19 protocols that may have caused a possible community spread. How this transpired is still uncertain. However, Inspector Henry informed that “the truth is we do not know when there will be a case of COVID-19 in the community. While our protocols have proven to be effective in containing the virus, we are seeing some lapses which have led to some uncomfortable situations. For example, over 20 persons were placed in quarantine over this last weekend as a result of one of such lapses in adherence to the protocols.”
He added that upon realization of the incident resulting from the lapse in protocol, “the COVID-19 taskforce activated its response mechanism immediately. The positive case was identified and quickly placed in isolation.” A contact tracing exercise followed, and the identified persons were quarantined including the driver of the public transport that the individual took when he was released from quarantine.
The Inspector added that immediate action has been taken to prevent a repeat incident, but no specific outline of recourse was stipulated. According to Inspector Cromwell Henry a police investigation will take place to determine whether criminal charges will be filed. The Caribbean Alert will provide more details as the story unfold.
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