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CARPHA SITUATION REPORT NO. 76

JULY 29, 2020

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic Summary This is an update to the CARPHA Situation Report published on July 27, 2020, in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To date, there are 103,418 cases in 33 countries/territories (including 24 CARPHA Member States), in the Caribbean Region. The risk of further cases occurring in the Caribbean remains Very High. Countries must continue to focus on interrupting viral transmission and reducing mortality associated with COVID-19, even as they continue a phased lifting of in-country restrictions.

CARPHA is leading the regional health response, actively working with CARICOM, Member States and key partners on region-wide approaches to the COVID-19 response. At this time, the expected number of positive cases reported is expected to increase as several Member States have begun reopening their borders and continue to carry out repatriation of nationals. The processes used for receiving incoming travellers have been guided by protocols developed under the gradual ease of restrictions. In all countries, it remains critical that active surveillance and COVID-19 prevention measures, including physical distancing, hand hygiene and wearing of masks in public are maintained.

New in this Report • Surveillance and Epidemiology of COVID-19 in 24 Member States • Facilities Department: Leading the Safety and Security Measures for CARPHA Staff for

COVID-19

COVID-19 in the Caribbean

Since the previous report on July 27, 2020, an additional 3,070 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in 15 countries within the Caribbean, bringing the region’s total confirmed cases to 103,418 in 33 countries/territories. This new total represents a 3% increase in the number of confirmed cases. There were 1,755 deaths recorded in the Caribbean Region as at July 29, 2020.

SITUATION UPDATE

* Figures reported by WHO supplemented with

additional data from local country reports.

NUMBERS AT A GLANCE*

Globally

16,558,425 cases (461,552 new)

Caribbean Region

33 countries, areas, or territories

103,418 cases (3,070 new)

50,252 recovered (5,954 new)

1,755 deaths (50 new)

Rest of the World

182 countries, areas, or territories and

international conveyances

16,455,007 cases (458,482 new)

9,754,328 recovered (367,601 new)

654,338 deaths (9,659 new)

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COVID-19 SURVEILLANCE AND EPIDEMIOLOGY

Figure 2: Confirmed Cases in CARPHA Member States as of July 29, 2020

As of July 29, 2020, there have been 11,868 cases confirmed from CARPHA Member States (CMS), the highest number was reported on May 30, 2020. Figure 2 shows a distribution of the con-firmed cases and incidence rate per 100,000 popu-lation in CMS to date.

Data in Figure 2 were extracted from published re-ports by the WHO and CARPHA Member States Min-istries of Health Official websites

Numbers may vary based on the time the information was extracted. See References

Figure 3: 7-day Moving Average Number of Cases of COVID-19 in CMS as of July 29, 2020

Figure 3 shows the 7-day moving av-erage among CMS. The value for each day represents the average number of cases for 7 days calculated using number of confirmed cases for the current day and the six days prior to the current day.

The highest 7-day average was ob-served on June 5, 2020.

As of July 29, 2020, the WHO reported 16,558,289 cases of patients with COVID-19. A total of 216 countries, areas or territories have confirmed at least one case among trav-ellers exposed while abroad and/or person-to-person contact. Since the last Situation Report on July 27, 2020, no new countries, areas or territories reported their first confirmed case of COVID-19, while 41 reported no new cases. Figure 1 shows a breakdown of cases by WHO Re-gions.

Figure 1: Reported Cases of COVID-19 by Region as of July 29, 2020*

* Excluded from the chart are the 741 cases from international conveyances ¥ Active cases = Total cases – (Number of cases recovered + Number of deaths)

ANALYSIS OF CASES AMONG CARPHA MEMBER STATES

For full details on all countries’ data see References section of this report. Please note that data are updated throughout the day and may vary from what is listed at time of publishing.

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Laboratory

Since February 10, 2020 and as of July 28, 2020, CARPHA Medical Microbi-ology Laboratory (CMML) has received 10,516 sam-ples from 16 CMS, 661 (6.3%) of which have test-ed positive since the start of the outbreak, 410 re-sults (3.9%) correspond to unique cases.

Figure 7 shows the pro-gression of COVID-19 cases which have been con-

Among the 24 Member States, 42% (10/24) have been classified as having spo-radic transmission of COVID-19 among cases, 38% (9/24) have reported clusters, 4% (1/24) reported community transmis-sion and 17% (4/24) currently have no cas-es.

Figure 6 is based on data received by the WHO from national authorities by 10:00 CEST, July 28, 20201.

Among cases for whom sex was reported, 55% were female and 45%

were male (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Percentage of Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 by Sex in CMS, n=1,239

Figure 6: Categories of Transmission Classification within the Region

1 WHO. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 190 Accessed July 29, 2020. Available here.

Figure 7: COVID-19 Progression in CMS*. Laboratory Confirmed New Cases. February 10 —July 28, 2020

For the cases for which data were available, the majority were between 20 and 59 years, with 50-59 being the modal age group. There was no age reported for the majority of cases (11,357 which are excluded from Figure 5.

Figure 5: Reported Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 by Age Group in CMS, n=511

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Stakeholder Engagement

CARPHA is working closely with various stakeholders for a coordinated regional response. Recent key highlights include:

• July 28, 2020: Ms. Carlon Kirton presented to students at the University of the West Indies, Masters in Health Promotion pro-gramme on the services provided by CARPHA and how they contribute to the health and wellbeing of the Region, highlighting the work being done during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• July 28, 2020: Dr. Boodram, Dr. Fletcher-Lartey, and Mr. Williams participated in a joint multi-hazard simulation exercise with CDEMA, CANTO, and CARILEC in preparation for the hurricane season.

• July 28th 2020. Dr Indar presented an update on CARPHA’s COVID activities to CDEMA’s Core COVID-19 coordination meeting w CARICOM agencies, UWI and PAHO

• July 27, 2020: Dr. St. John, Executive Director, participated in a High-Level Panel Session at the first ever Virtual Security Conference in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ‘Securing Our Caribbean Communi-ty Within The Era Of Covid-19 and Beyond’. The session provided an opportunity to hear from regional security leaders and key supporting partners on the role their organisations are playing in the fight against COVID-19 and the challenges that confront them. Panellists considered various dimensions of the challenges posed to governments, regional organizations and international partners. The virtual conference host-ed by the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) runs from July 27 – 31 July 2020.

• July 26, 2020: Dr. St. John attended the welcome party led by Prime Minster of Barbados, Mia Mottley for the Jack Ma donation of COVID-19 relief supplies to CARICOM. The event was organised by CDEMA which operates the distribution hub for procured relief supplies for COVID-19 for CARICOM.

• July 23, 2020: Dr. Indar and Ms. Ornella Cyrus presented at the Carib-bean Tourism Health Safety Training Series “COVID-19 Health Guide-lines for Reopening Hospitality Sector” and Tourism Health Infor-mation System. This is an initiative of the St. Vincent Tourism Authori-ty, Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Caribbean Public Health Agency, 227 persons from 44 facilities were trained.

• July 23, 2020 - Dr. St. John gave an update on CARPHA activities to the Eastern Caribbean Development Partners Group of CDEMA.

• July 22, 2020: Dr. St. John attended the webinar “Re-Purposing Re-search Samples During a Pandemic: Bridging Public Health Ethics and Research Ethics.”

• July 22, 2020: The “Regional COVID-19 Public Health Considerations for Reopening of Borders and Resuming Travel in the CARICOM Region” were released. Click here to access the publication.

CARPHA’S COVID-19 RESPONSE

CARPHA PRODUCTS

• Infographic—COVID-19 - General Information—NEW

• Infographic—Protecting Persons Living with Non-communicable Diseases as it relates to the COVID-19 Pandemic—NEW

• Infographic— Protecting Older Adults as it relates to the COVID-19 Pandemic—NEW

• Infographic—Prevention of COVID-19—NEW

• Caribbean Countries Reopening Plans - July 23, 2020

• Caribbean Countries that have issues travel advisories - July 23, 2020 • Links to Public Education Resources https://www.carpha.org/What-We-Do/Public-Health/Novel-Coronavirus

• Links to Media https://www.carpha.org/More/Media/Articles

• Links to Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/CARPHACampus

Photo 1: Dr. St John (Top-Centre) on the panel at the ‘Securing Our Caribbean Community Within The Era Of Covid-19 and Beyond’ conference.

Photo 2: Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Dr. St. John and other officials at the presentation of COVID-19 essen-tial medical supplies for CARICOM countries, from the World Health Organization WHO/Jack Ma Foundation. (Source: C.Pitt/Barbados Government Information Service)

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Facilities Department: Leading the Safety and Security Measures for CARPHA Staff for COVID-19

Since the onset of COVID-19 in January 2020, CARPHA’s Facilities Department has been leading the implementation of safety and security measures for CARPHA’s staff on all three campuses in response to COVID 19 pandemic.

In February, 2020, CARPHA’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) was updated to reflect changes in measures due to COVID-19, for the existing environment on each campus. Key changes in the BCP include teleworking on a rotational basis, daily temperature checks, wearing of masks in public spaces on campus, and social distancing. The Jamaica Campus was the first to fully activate the BCP from May 11, 2020 to June 1, 2020, and subsequently Port of Spain HQ and St Lucia activated the Telework on March 22, 2020 and Transport components.

Due to the increased demand upon CARPHA’s Medical Microbiology Laboratory, the Maintenance Unit was placed on high alert to assist the laboratory staff with any requests, and to ensure that the work environment remained safe and conducive to their needs. Additionally, the Maintenance Team restructured their work timetable to include an on-call rotation, to align with the schedule of the laboratory staff, and to offer any additional assistance as needed across multiple daily shifts.

Facilities staff across all three of CARPHA’s campuses were trained and assigned to perform temperature checks on all CARPHA staff and visitors entering the campuses, and to maintain daily temperature logs.

CARPHA’s Transportation Team has remained on call; ready to respond at a moment’s notice. With their assistance, laboratory staff were able to make numerous trips to retrieve samples submitted by CARPHA Member States, from the airport.

Figure 8 shows a breakdown of the additional measures that were implemented to ensure the safety and security of all staff and visitors to CARPHA.

NEWS AND INFORMATION

Sources: (1) WHO Situation Dashboard Accessed at 1:24pm July 29, 2020. Available from: https://who.sprinklr.com/ (2) Johns Hopkins University’s Centre for Science and Engineering Accessed at 1:10pm. July 29, 2020. Available from: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6 https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?useExisting=1&layers=c0b356e20b30490c8b8b4c7bb9554e7c&layerId=1 (3) Bahamas Ministry of Health. COVID-19 dashboard available here. Accessed July 29, 2020. (4) Bermuda Ministry of Health. Press release data July 28, 2020. Available here. Accessed July 29, 2020. (5) Guyana Ministry of Health. COVID-19 Dashboard. Available at https://dpi.gov.gy/covid19/#gsc.tab=0. Accessed July 29, 2020. (6) Haiti Ministry of Health and Population. COVID-19 Dashboard. Available at https://www.coronahaiti.org/ Accessed July 29, 2020. (7) Jamaica Ministry of Health. Press release dated July 28, 2020. Available here. Accessed July 29, 2020. (8) Suriname Ministry of Health. COVID-19 Dashboard. Available at https://covid-19.sr/ Accessed July 29, 2020. (9) Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Health. Press release #364 dated July 28, 2020. Available here. Accessed July 29, 2020.

REFERENCES

Figure 8: Measures Taken to Ensure the Safety of Staff and Visitors at CARPHA

Photo 3: Staff and visitors are required to sanitize their hands and have their temper-ature checked prior to entering the building.