BVI News

BVI now nearing a 100% recovery rate for COVID | Two official negative retests, one unofficial

Chief Medical Officer and Incident Commander of the territory’s coronavirus response team, Dr Irad Potter. (Photo Credit: PAHO)

The British Virgin Islands will soon be considered coronavirus-free once no new cases are recorded in the territory.

This is because two of the three original confirmed cases have officially returned negative results from the Caribbean Public Health Association (CARPHA) in Trinidad.

The remaining case has also returned a negative result after undergoing an unofficial test in the BVI. That third patient is now scheduled for the second official testing in Trinidad this week.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Irad Potter who told BVI News the territory will have a 100 percent recovery rate once the third patient returns an official negative result.

“That person is recovering well. We expect that they would have their second negative test some time shortly … If that (result) is negative, then they will be classified as recovered,” Dr Potter stated.

“The other two (patients) were tested negative twice because that is the protocol … We have the two results for each of the first two and I expect that the second test for the third person will be done.”

Immune system defense the cause of recoveries

Dr Potter attributed the recovery of the patients to their own immune systems, stating that no COVID-19 treatments were performed on any of the individuals.

“Remember that we reported that all of our cases only had mild symptoms. None of them really required hospitalization, none of them was in any respiratory distress or anything. They were all mild,” the CMO explained.

“The immune defences of their bodies fought the virus and cleared the virus from their systems, which is what would happen with the majority of cases,” Dr Potter further explained.

The BVI continues to be on a 24hr lockdown until April 19 and is expected to implement a 30-day soft curfew directly after.

According to Health Minister Carvin Malone, this measure is to further prevent COVID-19 from entering the territory and spreading.

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18 Comments

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  1. vip heckler says:

    Why is the premier and his deputy sidelining this medical personnel? You’re only seeing the two of them daily all over the news seeking political mileage

    Like 17
    Dislike 15
  2. Riddle me this says:

    Did you test the 143 persons who were in quarintine?

    Like 13
    Dislike 1
  3. Credit says:

    I agree. They need to bring the medical personnel up in front when they up speaking. Lord he doing the work, credit him.

    Like 12
  4. Good News says:

    Keep the ports closed with exception of food and basic necessities. Those 3 were imports. BVI should be praising the Almighty God for this blessing. His mercies are great.

    Like 9
    Dislike 4
  5. Anonymous says:

    Praise the lord to God be the glory except the lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain to god be all the glory .. thank god for our health care team lets continue to pray for our leaders that they will acknowledge the lord in all that they do and He will direct their paths .. pray and encourage them god bless the BVI

  6. observer says:

    DR potter i have a question the person have tested negative but is the virus out of the person system or is it hiding it self which can reappear within that person .Reason i ask its a virus and base on information its new and china has seen patients that were tested negative become active with virus again . For example the herpes virus a person is tested positive takes medication and symptoms goes away and once that person immune system stays strong they wouldnt see an out break and if they do a lab test the results comes back non active but clearly its there but not active . This result that come back negative is a negative or non reactive because base on CDC this could act like the flu.

  7. Skewed says:

    That’s wonderful news first of all however let’s discuss why more testing is not being done. I don’t think we will have an accurate picture of the number of cases if adequate testing is not being done. I know of more than one occasion where people have shown instances of some symptoms and are simply being prescribed medication and asked to go home and self treat for two weeks without being tested. Does someone have to be on death’s door to be tested? The problem we will have is that people will walk around not knowing whether they are infected and infect others in the process. Despite staying home for 2 weeks as in some patients it takes the body more than 2 weeks to eradicate the virus. Are we not testing to keep our numbers down on the regional scale? Are we not testing because of lack of kits? I’d like the government to explain the reasoning behind this approach.

    Like 12
    Dislike 2
    • Agree says:

      I am in 100% support of this comment. Unless we test, test and test, we are fooling ourselves.

    • Agree as well says:

      At minimum there should be random testing of essential workers. This is critical when one considers the nature of the illness particularly that a person could have it and not know and that fhe incubation period could be longer than 14 days. Based on reports I have seen with data from the region we are at the bottom of the rung in terms of the number of tests that have been undertaken to date.

  8. voiceofreason says:

    Dr Potter where have you been? Is this the start of regular updates from the lead personnel in the field? When will he be included in the panel?

    The BVI has only had 64 tests of which 3 were positive. 64 is not a lot of tests with a population of 30-35k . e need more tests to really have a reliable sample.

    Also can the learned Door bring us up to date with the quarantine facilities in place? Why is it they hav decided to remain lockdown despite the quarantine law mandating quarantine in place? Details of the drug that Premier Fahie said that was ordered?

    Inquiring minds would like to know?

  9. Look says:

    Tested .2% of population. ??

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