Six Persons Die Due to COVID-19 in 24 Hours

There is alarming news tonight from the Director of Health Services on the coronavirus.  As many as six persons have died over the last twenty-four hours due to COVID-19.  The latest death was confirmed during an interview conducted this evening with Director of Health Doctor Marvin Manzanero. This brings the total of persons who have died due to COVID-19 complications to fifty-eight. Most of the victims are from the two northern districts where the cases of COVID-19 continue to surge. Doctor Manzanero shared details.

Marvin Manzanero

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services

“We are not at fifty six deaths, four in the last twenty four hours. Four is the maximum number that we have ever documented in twenty four hours. The last two cases being two females and two males. One male died at a private facility in Belize City. One of the females died at Karl Heusner and the other person had been brought in as a sudden death in Belize City, closely linked to a previously confirmed case. So we had an immediate suspicion of that. The other male is somebody from Guinea Grass who died at the Northern Regional Hospital with problems, chronic conditions described. I am being alerted before I came here that there is another sudden death in Corozal; also in a male, in his forties with apparent predisposing condition and alcohol problem as well. Dr. Murray, Deputy Director of Health Services, is currently doing a review of all sudden deaths and that has been an exhausting experience. He has completed the electronic review and he will be in Orange Walk next week to look at any manual data that may not have been factored in the electronic system. The underlying conditions in almost all cases were hypertension, diabetes and obesity. And the other contributing factors that are somehow hidden until you go in there and do an individual review is in some males substance abuse, alcohol. A couple of cases also has psychiatric conditions. One of the sudden deaths was also a patient under psychiatric care. The fifty eight death is the last one I got.  It is a male that had been intubated earlier today because he was unstable and died a little before three pm today. The fifty seventh is a male in his forties with known pre-existing condition and was swabbed post mortem.”