Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Caribbean may be showing the first signs of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak cooling this week, even as the region continues to reel from the impact of the Omicron variant. 

Countries and territories across the basin reached another landmark in the collective fight against the pandemic, with a million more COVID-19 cases added to the cumulative total since October 2021. 

Roughly three months after hitting two million cases, the Caribbean has recorded a million more in the last 106 days.

There is hope, however, as the region maintains mostly closed cases of the infectious respiratory disease for 74 weeks going and the once-raging hotspots have begun their slow descent towards cooling. 

While COVID-19 infections are trending down Caribbean-wide, cases continue to remain either consistently high or have increased in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Belize, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and Saint-Barthélemy.

For the fourth consecutive week, new infections (161,280) outpaced closed cases (122,035) regionally in the last seven days, although achieving this with a smaller margin compared to weeks prior.

Further analysis of regional data finds all 32 affected countries and territories have reported new cases within the last 48 hours. Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago rank as the five worst-hit territories in the region. 

As at 4:48 pm Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) on Friday, January 28, collated data from respective health departments across the region has indicated a combined total of 3,026,029 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Of that number, some 2,100,852 cases, or roughly 69.42 per cent, have officially been declared closed. There are an estimated 925,177 active cases regionally.

The statistics were largely the result of patients across the Caribbean reporting a full recovery from the infectious disease (2,068,809 recoveries to date, barring insufficient data from Puerto Rico and France’s overseas territories region-wide).

In the meantime, the total number of patients who succumbed to coronavirus-related complications spiked to 32,043.

See Our Today’s latest situational analysis on COVID-19 in the Caribbean below:

Confirmed cases to date: 3,026,029
Deaths: 32,043
Recoveries: 2,068,809*
Active cases: 925,177*

*—Data from Health Departments and Agencies across the Caribbean. (Full or partial recovery statistics have not been forthcoming from Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, St Martin, French Guiana, Saint-Barthélemy and Martinique)

Cuba: 2,799 new cases; 1,036,783 confirmed. 8,388 patients have died. (1,013,640 recoveries)

Dominican Republic: 1,508 new cases; 551,528 confirmed. 4,298 patients have died. (533,584 patients have recovered)

Puerto Rico: 1,727 new cases; 450,699 confirmed. 3,773 patients have died. (*No information available on recoveries)

Jamaica: 584 new cases; 123,047 confirmed. 2,635 patients have died. (69,258 recoveries)

Trinidad and Tobago: 804 new cases; 108,892 confirmed. 3,358 patients have died. (86,871 recoveries)

Guadeloupe: 12,748 new cases; 105,319 confirmed. 774 patients have died. (2,250 recoveries)

French Guiana: 1,513 new cases; 85,984 confirmed. 827 patients have died. (9,995 recoveries)

Martinique: 320 new cases; 75,006 confirmed. 370 patients have died. (124 recoveries)

Suriname: 460 new cases; 72,548 confirmed. 1,256 patients have died. (49,236 recoveries)

Guyana: 408 new cases; 58,604 confirmed. 1,156 patients have died. (45,440 recoveries)

Belize: 735 new cases; 49,794 confirmed. 624 patients have died. (39,783 recoveries)

Barbados: 767 new cases; 42,122 confirmed. 277 patients have died. (33,137 recoveries)

Curaçao: 130 new cases; 36,722 confirmed. 225 patients have died. (33,730 recoveries)

Aruba: 136 new cases; 32,718 confirmed. 187 patients have died. (32,115 recoveries)

The Bahamas: 44 new cases; 32,282 confirmed. 731 patients have died. (24,048 recoveries)

Haiti: 132 new cases; 28,875 confirmed. 784 patients have died. (24,410 recoveries)

St Lucia: 225 new cases; 20,417 confirmed. 326 patients have died. (15,877 recoveries)

US Virgin Islands: 46 new cases; 14,802 confirmed. 99 patients have died. (13,856 recoveries)

Cayman Islands: 444 new cases; 13,788 confirmed. 15 patients have died. (8,093 recoveries)

Grenada: 133 new cases; 12,090 confirmed. 210 patients have died. (9,954 recoveries)

Bermuda: 290 new cases; 10,552 confirmed. 110 patients have died. (9,032 recoveries)

St Martin: 566 new cases; 9,439 confirmed. 61 patients have died. (1,399 recoveries)

Sint Maarten: 26 new cases; 9,229 confirmed. 79 patients have died. (8,343 recoveries)

Dominica: 68 new cases; 8,906 confirmed. 51 patients have died. (8,073 recoveries)

St Vincent and the Grenadines: Two new cases; 6,668 confirmed. 93 patients have died. (5,747 recoveries)

Antigua and Barbuda: 82 new cases; 6,524 confirmed. 127 patients have died. (5,617 recoveries)

British Virgin Islands: 160 new cases; 5,809 confirmed. 49 patients have died. (5,345 recoveries)

Turks & Caicos Islands: 19 new cases; 5,678 confirmed. 34 patients have died. (5,425 recoveries)

St Kitts and Nevis: 37 new cases; 5,368 confirmed. 33 patients have died. (4,816 recoveries)

Saint-Barthélemy: 203 new cases; 3,435 confirmed. Six patients have died. (462 recoveries)

Anguilla: 83 new cases; 2,270 confirmed. Seven patients have died. (2,139 recoveries)

Montserrat: No new cases; 161 confirmed. One patient has died. (147 recoveries)

NB: There are no countries without active cases at this time