COVID-19 - Epidemiological Week 22

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has released this week’s Public Health Spotlight on communicable and non-communicable diseases. This week’s publication covers data on COVID-19 for Epi. Week 22, monkeypox and the arrival of a new epidemiologist.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness welcomes Epidemiologist Rachel Corbett, who recently arrived from the UK. Rachel will be supporting the monitoring and reporting of infectious diseases in the Cayman Islands, and is working here for the next 6 months.

Rachel has previously studied at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and worked as an Epidemiologist in the UK for over 6 years. She has experience at the local, national and international level.

During the pandemic, Rachel led the International Travel Risk Assessment team within the UK COVID-19 Incident Response to assess the risk of COVID-19 travellers faced when travelling abroad to any country in the world and inform government policy.

You can find the web version here: https://www.gov.ky/news/press-release-details/public-health-spotlight---issue-ii---9-june

International Situation

Internationally, the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths is decreasing since the peak in January 2022. Regionally, between 30 May and 5 June there was an increase in the number of new weekly cases in the Eastern Mediterranean (+19%) Region and South East Asia Region (+1%), and an increase in new weekly deaths in the Western Pacific Region (+7%). Overall, the global pandemic is improving however the regional variation indicates that continued efforts are still required.

Cayman Islands Local Trends

The key indicators continue to decrease in the Cayman Islands, however, there is also a decline in the number of tests conducted. The number of new cases reported in Week 22 decreased by 23% from 566 to 437 cases. The daily new average of new positives fell to 62 from 81, a reduction of 23%. Whilst the number of new cases has fallen, the test positivity rate has remained stable at 25% in Epi. Week 22 as the number of PCR tests conducted has decreased by 20% from 2,279 to 1,814.

Hospital Admissions

Seven new admissions to the two local hospitals were registered during Epi. Week 22, a slight increase on the previous week where five new admissions were reported. A total of 12 patients required inpatient treatment (two more than the previous week).

Vaccination

During Epi. Week 21, a total of 53 children received the paediatric COVID-19 vaccine (19 first doses and 34 second doses), bringing the total of vaccines given to children over these last 2 weeks to 182.

Key Message

There continue to be encouraging signals of decline in the current wave of infection, however the level of testing will need to remain sufficient in the coming weeks to confirm this.