Coronavirus in the Caribbean – confirmed in Dominican Republic, St. Barts and French Saint Martin

Reports coming from various media have indicated that the Dominican Republic has confirmed its first case of coronavirus from an Italian tourist, according to a Reuters report.

The 62-year-old Italian man was transferred to an observation room in a military hospital in the capital, Santo Domingo and is said to be in stable condition. All flights to and from Milan have been cancelled affecting some 4000 travellers.

Meanwhile, the French Agency, French-Passe (AFP) have reported confirmed cases in St. Barthélemy and French Saint Martin. The cases were confirmed by the Institute Pasteur Laboratory of Guadeloupe which is conducting tests for the virus.

Read more on Dominican Republic

Read More on cases in French Saint Martin and St. Barthélemy

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12 Comments

  1. Breathe
    March 3, 2020

    COVID-19 is rapidly expanding to countries around the world but the commenters here on DNO would have us believe that the spread of the illness is a direct result of the government. This is not time for propaganda. Why the constant need to sully the country’s reputation? Why the constant need to make Dominica look bad? The US couldn’t stop it, Europe couldn’t stop it. South America couldn’t stop it and most likely Dominica cannot stop it.

    My people, now is the time to protect yourself, strengthen your immune system. Eat your fruits and vegetables, drink plenty of water. Wash your hands especially if people cough or sneeze on you. Don’t touch your face without washing your hands. Stay healthy. Watch out for each other.

  2. Ras B
    March 2, 2020

    Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders are meeting in Barbados today to discuss the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the tourism industry, CARICOM officials have confirmed. The risk to Caribbean people must be placed on the agenda
    as well as a sensible strategy to ward off this threat .
    We say better late than never. It is now here in the Caribbean. Our economies are too small for us to get involved in the rat race as to who is first, we, as I have been requesting, need to pool resources including brain power together because this is a major threat to the entire Caribbean and its people. Obviously, our ministry of Health don’t seem to have a clue about the first steps that they need to take to ward off this pending crisis. Thanks PM Mia Motley for your astute leadership of Caricom and the realisation that all hands need to be on deck to ward off this attack.

    It appears that there is little respect for human life in China but we in the Caribbean still respect and value…

  3. LANGSAL
    March 2, 2020

    why is the dominican government still allowing cruise ships and yatchs into our island…. these politicians are the tebeahest of them all.

  4. Lord Help us
    March 2, 2020

    OMG with the threat of the deadly coronavirus knocking at our doors if it has not made its entry yet, then another hurricane season not too far away and a lazy, lying and cover-up government that don’t care a damn about the well being of the people of Dominica? Lord help us.

  5. Truth Be Told
    March 2, 2020

    Elsewhere in Europe, France raised its number of reported cases to 130 on Sunday, including one in the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.

    https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-01/coronavirus-countries-around-the-world-ramp-up-measures-to-stop-spread-of-covid-19/

    ADMIN: Again there may be confusion over French St. Martin where Guadeloupe did the testing for the virus there (see earlier ADMIN response in this article).

    Report by WHO regional director in the Americas listing countries affected by coronavirus in the Caribbean as of 2nd March 2020 – Guadeloupe was not included.

    https://youtu.be/jmP1kdEq10c?t=181

    • Truth Be Told
      March 2, 2020

      Thanks Admin, I respect your caution and also thought of the same possible mix-up but such is the report.

  6. Truth Be Told
    March 2, 2020

    France also reported a case on its Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.

    https://wvva.com/2020/03/01/dominican-republic-reports-first-case-of-coronavirus-french-territory-of-guadeloupe-reports-first-case-as-well/

    ADMIN: While there are several news outlets reporting that there is coronavirus in Guadeloupe we have not been able to confirm this.

    There may be confusion over the confirmed cases in St. Barts – the Institut Pasteur Laboratory of Guadeloupe conducted the testing for St. Barts which may be the source of the confusion.

    Here is a report from Dominican Dr. Carissa F. Etienne the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for the Americas that indicates all countries in the Caribbean with coronavirus (COVID-19) as of 2nd March.

    https://youtu.be/jmP1kdEq10c?t=181

  7. Ras B
    March 2, 2020

    Why the continued incompetence? A week ago we were told that the risk of the Caribbean being affected by COVID-19 was low!!! Now in less than a week the virus is isolated in three countries in the Caribbean!!

    Is the MOH being trained by the Chinese? Are we fearful of them as we sing for our supper? The tactics seem to be identical. China had the highest single day positive cases of persons with COVID-19 but there ambassador two days earlier told us that with every week the numbers testing positive were declining. The truth however was that China had taken a decision to test a smaller number of people. Truly the Chinese have been frugal with the truth.

    Despite the abundance of evidence, Dominica has Chinese running in and out of our poor little island unchecked. People we have been inoculated with corona virus; is this modern Euthanasia. The deliberate wiping out of a people in an attempt to limit the size of the world population? King Dice needs to be sorry for D/ca.

  8. Ras B
    March 2, 2020

    About a month ago when I indicated that COVID-19 was becoming a pandemic, this prediction seemed to have been slighted. It is now agreed by WHO that it has become a pandemic. Dominica, your MOH needs to wake up and be honest. Stop the lies and the cheap attempts at obtaining political points. This is no longer a distant event affecting other people and the risk to us is small.

    I predict each Caribbean island will have at least one confirmed case within a month. This is not scare mongering, it is serious. I fear for Dominica! The foolery of the MOH and government to date in the handling of other diseases which hitherto were unknown in Dominica is evidence of the devastation that disease will wreak in Dominica.

    We are yet to hear how the MOH plans to contain the disease. No mention of action at the ports of entry; no mention of quarantine, no further mention of our virus testing capability. This is not politics, this is the immediate threat to the life of our people.

  9. Blank
    March 1, 2020

    All I saying is, Dominicans for the sake of our tiny population …learn to cough in alu ELBOWS!

    • I said what I said
      March 2, 2020

      People have no manners spitting any and everywhere. They are in an enclosed area sneezing not even trying to cover their germ infested mouths. That coughing in elbow make no sense to me, it’s better you shift your collar and cough/sneeze into your clothes.

  10. Not Nice Boy
    March 1, 2020

    I have said it before and I will repeat that I would not be surprised to hear that coronavirus is in Dominica and people may have died from it but we just did not Know. Coronavirus was first discovered since December 2019 in Wahun, China and we all know that China and Dominica is like one country in terms of traffic. Of late we’ve been hearing of a lot of deaths especially that of babies. You see that China / Dominica hospital boy? When it was first announced I remember saying on this site that I wouldn’t be surprised to see it becoming an unofficial China/ Dominica funeral home and a China/ Dominica burial ground but many times I got a lot of thumbs down. But I feel something.i just cannot trust China and even worse be I cannot trust Roosevelt Skerrit. China is about what they can get from us and their loverboy Skerrit is about what he can use us to get for himself and hiding in office.

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