Director Medical Services in the Department, Dr. Donna-Michelle Royer-Powe indicated that “The positive cases recorded in the Correctional Centres continue to be largely asymptomatic, most confirmed cases have been identified because of contact tracing, line listing and targeted testing in the institutions. We have had 16 cases have recovered and our latest targeted testing programme at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre (TSACC) saw ninety-nine (99) tests returning negative results.

Procurement activities have been bolstered to increase the number of surgical masks per person per day and supplemental sanitization supplies have been distributed to the centres to increase cleaning activities in keeping with recommendations from the Ministry of Health and Wellness during a tour of the Horizon and Tower Street Adult Correctional Centres recently. Deep cleaning activities were undertaken today at the facility, as one of several steps to cauterize the spread in the ward population.

The Department continues to emphasize and carry out protocols established by international bodies and other benchmark corrective organizations versed in the management of outbreaks within correctional institution to prevent outbreak in the nation’s penal institutions. These Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) protocols in place across the nation’s correctional services have employed rapid response interventions when there are suspected cases that has resulted in only 5 of the 11 Correctional Centres recording positive inmates.