Minister for Health and Social Development Honourable Carvin Malone has reported in his COVID-19 Update today that the British Virgin Islands is now in the “Manage it” Orange Alert Phase of the National Pandemic Response Plan.

Honourable Malone explained that since his last announcement on September 3, the Territory had been experiencing small clusters of COVID-19 cases and many are linked to families, social or workplace settings that led to the transition from the ‘Stamp it out” Red Alert phase.

The “Manage it” Orange Alert Phase plan is part of a six-phase strategy that includes the Plan For It (the planning and preparedness) phase; the Keep It Out (the border management) phase; the Stamp It Out (the cluster control) phase; the Manage It (the pandemic management) phase; the Manage It: the Post-Peak (the transition) phase; and the Recover From It (the recovery) phase. The plan can be found on the Government of the Virgin Islands’ website at www.bvi.gov.vg.

Honourable Malone said that the ‘Manage it” phase means that while carefully rebooting the social and economic actives, vigorous efforts would be maintained to protect the public’s health and limit transmission of the COVID-19 virus in local communities.

“Our goal remains to safeguard lives and livelihoods while living and working in an environment where the virus is present among our population,” Health Minister Honourable Malone stated.

He debunked  misleading notions that 1,500 BVI residents are infected with COVID-19 stemming from his previous statement that gave a scientific projection of what could have happened over a period of time, if officials had not acted swiftly to quell the current outbreak.

Honourable Malone also empathised with all persons directly impacted by COVID-19 by extending well wishes and prayers to them for a speedy recovery. He made special mention of the two persons who remain hospitalised, stating that they both were treated for other underlying health issues and are now awaiting recovery testing.

Honourable Malone further said that the current Curfew Order, together with extensive testing and isolation, contact tracing and quarantine, community education and law enforcement measures are all part of the aggressive strategy to keep the number of persons exposed to the virus to a minimum.

He highlighted the importance of case finding through laboratory testing as it helps with isolating persons who have positive results that can then be monitored and supported to further minimise exposure risk to those around them.

The British Virgin Island’s epidemiological summary is now sixty-three (63) total confirmed cases of COVID-19, fifty-two (52) active cases, ten (10) recoveries, two (2) hospitalizations and 1 death recorded.