Jamaica hit a new, deadly high on Thursday (August 26), with 22 coronavirus-related fatalities in the last 24 hours.

The single highest figure for daily COVID-19 deaths was previously 19, which officials recorded on April 18.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, in its clinical management summary, noted, however, that four of the deaths were initially listed ‘under investigation’ and recorded in May.

The Caribbean island also shattered hospitalisations for a second straight day, with 705 patients currently being treated, up from 655 on Wednesday. Of that number, 186 are listed as ‘moderately ill’, 84 classified as ‘severely ill’, and 58 categorised as ‘critically ill’.

In the meantime, 463 new COVID-19 cases were recorded by health officials over the last 24 hours, bringing the national confirmed total to 64,294.

All 14 parishes confirmed new cases, the health ministry data indicated, with Kingston and St Andrew (80), St Catherine (63), St Ann (54), St Elizabeth (53) and Manchester (48) rounding out areas where infections were higher.

The positivity rate, fuelled by the more transmissible Delta variant, has fallen marginally to 41.3 per cent.

Jamaica is managing 14,528 active infections, while some 47,918 persons have fully recovered from the infectious disease.