The Tribune

THE Ministry of Health confirmed 24 additional cases of COVID-19 and one more related death yesterday.

This pushed the number of confirmed cases to 3,032 and confirmed deaths to 69.

There is also one more death under investigation, officials said.

The latest death is an 83-year-old New Providence man who died on September 11.

“A non-COVID-19 related death is also confirmed, and one more death is now under investigation,” officials said. “These unfortunate deaths increase the number of deaths under investigation to 11, non-COVID-19 related deaths to nine, and the death toll now stands at 69.”

Asked on Monday if officials made the right decision to reopen most businesses in New Providence despite rising cases, Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan said lockdowns are not sustainable.

“Whether or not we opened everything or just a few things certainly what we require to happen as we move forward is that we follow the necessary public health measures in order to decrease the likelihood of spread,” she said Monday.

“I think we often say when we are asked a question like that that public health must always take into consideration other things that are happening in a particular environment and there has to be a balance. We would have had a number of lockdowns, we had curfews, we had a number of very restrictive to minimally restrictive measures put in place early on and we did fairly well.

“Doing those things indefinitely is not sustainable so we have to balance the public health measures alongside the economic and the social measures and challenges that come along with the lockdowns,” Dr McMillan said.