It’s only a matter of time before the Covid-19 virus reaches the island’s shores. That was the warning sounded by acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George.
He told Starcom Network yesterday that local health officials had been focusing on surveillance and identifying the first case, but over time had learnt to build up the health infrastructure to deal with the virus that has already claimed 3 411 lives.
“With respect to Barbados, what this means is that it is less in the region about if it comes, but when the virus comes. We have built up the health infrastructure so that you have the quarantine facilities, the isolation facilities, the ability to test and those types of infrastructure that we would be able to deal with the virus,” he explained.
There are currently 60 beds available at short notice for quarantine, along with six additional beds for cases that require hospitalisation.
“[So far] the majority of people have mild illness not requiring them to interact with even the health care system. It is a mild flu-like illness which 80 per cent of people will get,” he stressed. (RA)
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