Covid cases skyrocket in last five days

Santo Domingo, DR
At least 2,441 new positive cases of Covid-19 and 15 deaths have been reported in the country in the last five days, after the virus began to show more significant activity, following several weeks with low indicators.

Yesterday, the system reported 478 positive cases in a total of 5,819 samples analyzed, placing the daily positivity at 17.01% and that of the last four weeks at 4.61%, while the confirmed presence of the Omicron variant in Dominican territory increases the demand for diagnostic tests on the part of the population.

The increase in positive cases has been reported since December 23rd, when the epidemiological report reported 422 new cases and five deaths. The following day, 506 new positive cases and six deaths were reported. Subsequently, 696 infections and three deaths were reported, last Sunday, 339 positive cases and one death were reported, and yesterday, 478 cases and no casualties were reported.

Greater Santo Domingo, Santiago, San Cristobal, and La Romana are the provinces that contributed the highest number of positive cases in yesterday’s report.

Low hospitalization
However, despite the increase in the number of cases and the daily positivity, hospitalizations remain at low levels, with values of 11% and 12% occupancy in regular and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds.

According to the official report, some 255 patients were hospitalized in regular beds due to the disease, while 71 patients remained in the ICU. In addition, the system reported 64 patients connected to mechanical ventilation for a 14 percent occupancy rate.

Epidemiological bulletin number 648 reports that the country accumulated 4,238 deaths due to Covid-19, with a lethality rate of 1.02 percent and mortality per million inhabitants at 405.61.

There are 2,928 reported cases of people with the active virus, with 414,704 records since March 2020.

It is detailed that yesterday 2,559 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and 3,260 antigen tests were done, of which 2,810 were done for the first time, and 3,009 were subsequent.

In the Dominican Republic, a total of 2,561,187 samples have been processed since the beginning of the pandemic, equivalent to 245,125 per million people.

Of the deceased, 24 percent had hypertension as their underlying disease, and 15 percent had diabetes.

Hundreds of flights canceled in New York
An EFE news agency cable, dated in New York, reports that major U.S. airlines canceled hundreds of flights again on Monday for the fourth consecutive day in the face of the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to the U.S. company Flight Aware, which specializes in providing real-time data on flights. At 9.15 a.m. local time on the U.S. East Coast (14.19 GMT), a flight was reported to have been suspended for the fourth consecutive day. (14.19 GMT), Eight hundred ten flights to or from the U.S. had been suspended. This is less than the 1,517 flights grounded yesterday.

DETAILS

Travel Vaccine
Anthony Fauci, M.D., the leading U.S. infectious disease expert, said Monday that the country should “seriously” consider a domestic travel vaccination mandate.

During an interview, Fauci, the chief scientific advisor on President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response, said that “when you impose a vaccination requirement, it’s an added incentive for more people to get vaccinated.”

Travelers from abroad
The United States currently requires most foreigners entering the country to be fully vaccinated against coronavirus but has not required it for domestic travel.