Santa Cruz Index Case is a Staff Member of the Primary School

Michel Chebat

On Monday, we told you about a COVID-19 cluster identified in Santa Cruz village in the Stann Creek District. Well apparently this is not the only area of concern. This morning the Minister of Health and Wellness Michel Chebat appeared on Open Your Eyes this morning to give an update on several other communities. He says that while Belize is not experiencing its third wave of the pandemic, since the data is not showing community spread, the ministry is monitoring the Orange Walk and Stann Creek Districts where multiple clusters have been detected and are now considered hotspots. As we’ve reported, twenty-one cases were detected in the Santa Cruz Village in the south and there are clusters from an evangelical church as well as within a family in the Orange Walk District. But how were these cases introduced in these communities? Minister Chebat speaks of how the virus was introduced in Santa Cruz.

Michel Chebat, Minister of Health & Wellness

“In the Stann Creek district, we have identified what the medical team calls index case, where it originated from. That person has been identified Marleni and that person is a staff member of the Santa Cruz school.”