Four COVID deaths have been recorded between Friday and tonight - three of them from northern Belize.
The first two were reported on Friday night: the one from the north had been referred to the KHMH's ICU and had been unstable over the the days before succumbing; and the second is a person from the Belize District who had what is described as a "cardio-embolic event" - which usually means a clot causing a stroke - and had been deteriorating until his death.
And, then on Saturday night - a female in her mid 50's from August Pine Ridge, Orange Walk died after two weeks at the KHMH's ICU.
And today, a male in his 30's from Trial Farm was found gasping for breath at home and died on arrival at the Northern Regional Hospital. The Director of Health Services reports that this person had been swabbed previously in July. The time, his COVID diagnosis was made postmortem.
And with those three sad deaths, the north continues to be the epicentre. And on Saturday it was confirmed that Orange Walk accounts for 36% of all cases - after that district recorded its 1,000th case - out of 2,816 overall.
Between Friday and Monday, 824 tests were processed were reported and 151 of them came back positive - for a positivity rate of 18% - still on the high side, but lower than the previous weekend.
What's most worrying is that on Saturday alone - just about one third of the 47 positives were front line workers - broken down between BDF and Coast Guard.
And between Thursday and Saturday, 5 KHMH staffers tested positive. The Director of Health Services says 4 of them were exposed at private facilities in Belize City.
There's also great concern at the Belize Endoscopy and Gastroenterology Center - a relatively small private clinic where 7 staffers came back with positive tests forcing a closure of the facility. A notice says "closed until further notice". The release adds, quote, "regrettably, the virus found its way into our facility..to note the staff affected are showing no to mild symptoms…we will take this time to quarantine and isolate…we will also be doing thorough sanitisation of the hospital in the coming week in accordance to MOH's standards…"
And, there's even more worry for private facilities - the MOH says it is "following a cluster originating out of the dialysis unit at Belize Health Care Partners Limited where staff and patients have turned out positive."
And, at Kolbe, there are now 25 infections - including 16 inmates - broken down into 7 males and 9 females - and 9 prison officers.
As of Saturday the Northern Regional Hospital has 5 COVID patients hospitalized, while the KHMH had 7 patients in the COVID-19 unit, none of them on ventilators.
So - as of last night - there are now 44 deaths- whereas one month prior on September 18th - there were only 20. So, the total number of COVID deaths has more than doubled in a month and Belize's case fatality rate is now at 1.6%.
