EDITOR’S NOTE: In this newsletter, #HealthCaribbean features the Dominican Republic exclusively; and more specifically, the status of Dominican Republic with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. For additional content on this topic, please go to our Twitter feed (@HealthC_bean). In our upcoming edition later this week, #HealthCaribbean will feature Haiti.
All five articles are taken from the Dominican Today. The headline reads: “Dominican Republic Among The Countries With The Fewest Deaths From Covid In The Americas”. Despite a rising COVID-19 positivity rate most recently, and a health situation doctors describe as critical, the Dominican Republic still has one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the Americas.
Last Friday, the total number of inoculated persons stood at 4,761,529: 3,530,338 having received their first dose, and 1,231,191 their second. This means almost half of all citizens have received atleast their first dose. Nevertheless, the Infection rate soared when vaccination slowed: 80% of the hospitalized had not been vaccinated, most being young adults.
At the end of May, metropolitan hospitals had 91% of Intensive Care units occupied, 66% of beds available for Covid patients filled, and 76% of available ventilators in use. However, one million more doses of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in the Dominican Republic, to continue the vaccine effort: millions of doses having previously been received.