For the first time since the discovery of the coronavirus in the country on March 19, health authorities have notice a sudden uptick on the number of people being affected. Yesterday, the government reported that 21 people were infected with the virus.
In a statement released Thursday, the Minister of Public Health said she had recorded a total of 12 deaths, 129 people infected and 16 patients declared cured.
To date, only 1,142 people have been tested throughout the country, which is small compared to the Dominican Republic which tested more than 25,000 people.
Of the ten departments, only Grand’Anse has not yet officially registered any cases of contamination. The West wins the prize with 88 cases out of the 129. The commune of Delmas retains its leading position with 25 cases followed by Port-au-Prince with 24 cases. Pétion-Ville, Tabarre and Croix-des-Bouquets and Fort-Liberté account respectively for 19, 10, 9 and 8 cases of Covid-19 registered until Thursday, May 7.
In an attempt to break the chain of transmission of the disease, the authorities are making it compulsory to wear a mask from Monday 11 May. Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe said that as of this date, people who move around in public places without wearing masks will simply be arrested by the police.
For the moment, the government has only 2.5 million masks to be distributed, notably in public markets. Joseph Jouthe intends to put pressure on Haitian industrialists to manufacture 20 million masks.
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 continues to take a heavy toll on the other side of the island. As of Thursday, May 7, 2020, the disease had already killed 373 people in the Dominican Republic, 9,095 cases were registered and 2,064 patients declared cured. Not a day goes by without deaths and hundreds of cases of contamination among our Dominican neighbors.
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