As part of monitoring COVID-19 in Saint Lucia, the Ministry of Health and Wellness is utilizing its surveillance system to produce data to forecast the disease’s impact on the country.

National Epidemiologist Dr. Michelle Francois emphasized on the need to draw data from influenza and respiratory disease surveillance in Saint Lucia.

“Within the epidemiology unit one of the things that we monitor on a weekly basis is influenza-like illness. So cases of fever and cough we monitor on a weekly basis. We have noted that these numbers have been coming down nicely and we continue to monitor them. We also monitor on a weekly basis the number of cases of severe acute respiratory illnesses. So these are cases of fever and cough that need admission to the hospitals. So these we have our baselines and these are monitored and we have not picked up increases in these numbers to date. We know that 15% of these individuals may require admission and another 5% may require ICU admission. So, we are cognizant of that and we continue to monitor more so than ever.

Dr. Francois also spoke on the efforts of the Ministry of Health to monitor deaths in Saint Lucia to determine whether or not they are linked to COVID-19.

“We also monitor our deaths, so hospital deaths and suspicious deaths. What we do is those individuals are tested for COVID-19 and in order for us to be sure and confident that we do not have any COVID-19 related deaths.”

The National Epidemiologist also reiterated that to date, Saint Lucia has recorded no deaths related to COVID-19.

At this time, we remind you of one of our popular slogans…Be bright…don’t light and be mindful that substance use and misuse will further complicate our existing situation.