BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 22nd May 2020)- Although all fifteen patients in St.Kitts-Nevis who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have fully recovered , health officials are focusing on exercising the necessary precautions since the threat of infection remains regarding a second wave that could be started by incoming travellers.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is not over; it actually just got started. The science and the evidence tell us that the pandemic will be with us for as long as 12, 18 months and even beyond so we are not out of the woods as yet so that’s why we still have to maintain our physical and social distancing measures,” stated Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) COVID-19 Daily Briefing special edition held on Monday 18th May 2020.

According to her, incoming travellers can signal start of a second wave infection and so the health team will have to contain such when it begins.

That day, however, the status of full recovery of the individual who had tested positive was announced.

“We all know that we had 15 cases but it is with pleasure this afternoon that I inform you that all 15 cases have recovered,” shared the CMO.

Relative to St.Kitts Nevis, a total of 391 persons have been sampled and tested for the novel coronavirus with 376 of these returned negative and 15 positive results while 815 persons have been released from quarantine.

Average duration of diagnosis to recovery stands at approximately thirty (30) days.

As of Thursday 21st May, there were four persons quarantined at a government facility and zero persons quarantined at home.

Statistics on a global scale provide by the World Health Organization at the time recorded 4,864,881 confirmed positive results with 321,818 deaths.