Grand Cayman, 4 August 2022 –  The Public Health department published its weekly Spotlight on Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases today Thursday 4 August 2022.

Epidemiological Week 30

24 – 30 July 2022 (Data as of 01-08-2022)

International situation:

Globally, the reported number of cases decreased during the last week by 9% compared to the week prior. This may indicate a plateau of the recent rise in cases, however this may also be attributable to the fact many countries have changed the testing strategy recently.

Local trends:

Similar to recent weeks, the local data shows a continuing decline in cases detected and in the number of tests conducted. The number of cases detected fell from 323 to 310 cases, with the case rate declining by 4% to 447 cases per 100,000 population from 466 cases per 100,000 population. The number of PCR tested conducted decreased by 16% from 724 to 610 tests, and the test positivity increased by 11% to be 50% for the past Epi Week. 

Hospital admissions:

Eight new hospital admissions were registered during Epi Week 30, one less than the previous week. Of the eight new admissions, 3 were admitted due to COVID-19 morbidity and 5 were detected on screening. A total of 11 patients required inpatient treatment, a decreased from 15 patients in the previous week.

Vaccination:

During Epi Week 29, there were 86 adults who received a COVID-19 vaccine (29 first dose and 57 second dose) and 41 children (22 first dose and 19 second dose). This data presents vaccine uptake with a week’s lag to provide the complete data and allow for reporting lags in the system.

Key message

Whilst the number of detected cases has decreased, a reduction in transmission is not necessarily reflected by other data indicators. Preventative measures including good hand hygiene, home isolation for those positive, wearing of masks in public and uptake of the vaccine continue to be advised to reduce the risk of infection.

Link: https://www.gov.ky/news/press-release-details/public-health-spotlight—issue-10