And according to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Renie Hipolito Moh is among 8 Belizeans whose COVID-related death was reported over the 4-day Christmas weekend.
5 deaths were reported between December 25th to the 27th, and 3 more were reported on December 28th. Belize's case fatality rate is now 2.23%.
Between December 25th to the 27th, there were 71 newly confirmed cases, and 212 new cases under investigation. On December 28th, 1 day later, the number of newly confirmed cases was 30.
Interestingly, on December 28th, the number of cases under investigation fell significantly from 212 to only 45 in one day. The Acting Director of Health Services told us that the reason for the sharp decrease is that the Ministry has caught up with many of the outstanding swabs which were done over the past 2 weeks. This was done by instituting extra shifts, and the arrival of equipment upgrades which allow for faster extraction of the tissue samples from the swabs. The Ministry is also using the rapid test all over the country so that the amount that they are waiting on has decreased. The Ministry hopes to run larger amounts of tests daily so that persons can get their PCR results within 2 or 3 days.
