By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The Belize Ministry of Health has reported the country’s first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past week.

Image/CIA

The first case reported on Monday was in a 38-year-old female, Belizean national who resides in San Pedro.

She arrived in Belize on Thursday, March 19th, and sought medical attention at a private health facility with symptoms on Friday, March 20th. Her recent travel history shows she travelled from Los Angeles, California and transited through Texas. Based on this travel history and symptoms she exhibited, Belize’s health system was alerted and due process and protocol started. All necessary precautions were taken on the Ministry’s end.

Health officials performed a mapping exercise that allowed the Ministry to test seven persons who were the immediate contacts of the index case. One immediate contact from those individuals resulted as a positive case. The patient is stable and has no signs or symptoms as of today. All other samples are negative. To date, there are two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Belize.

Officials advised the public that the Central Medical Laboratory in Belize City is the only laboratory certified to test for COVID-19. Therefore, the public is urged to disregard and avoid sharing all unconfirmed, misleading and/or false information about COVID-19 cases.