The number of cases for Bulletin #816 was 896, down from 918 on the previous day. This number compares to the 7-day nationwide average for confirmed lab-reported cases that is now 714. Active cases increased to 3,514, up from 3,147.
The Ministry of Public Health recommends getting the third and fourth booster vaccines. The third booster is now highly recommended for children from 12 years now that there have been outbreaks in private and public schools.
The fourth booster is available for those 18 years and older. The fourth booster can be applied four months after the third booster. It is recommended especially for those over 50 years of age and those with depressed immune systems.
The Pfizer vaccine is available for these boosters, but those who do not qualify to receive MRNA vaccines can get the Sinovac vaccine that is also available.
The Ministry of Public Health urges people to get vaccinated also because three million stock of vaccines is about to expire.
Vice President Raquel Peña, who coordinates the nation’s Health Cabinet, has said it is up to every person to take preventive measures and stay safe. She says the government has purchased fourth boosters for the entire population for collective health.
The number of positive cases has been rising steadily since the beginning of May 2022. HOMS in Santiago and Plaza de la Salud/Cedimat in Santo Domingo have reinstated Covid-19 preventive measures that had been relaxed at the large medical centers. Apparently the Covid-19 variant has been imported by Dominicans who have traveled abroad, or from visiting friends and family. Masks are again being used for large indoor events, and a large number of people continue to wear masks in supermarkets.
The Ministry of Public Health has free testing (antigen and PCR) stations, including one in the fourth-floor parking of Plaza Central on Av. Winston Churchill in Santo Domingo.
Otherwise, the Dominican Republic has reached a kind of herd immunity regarding Covid-19. That is, sufficient number of people seem to have developed immunity from catching the disease, and sufficient number of people are fully vaccinated, resulting in very few Covid-19 deaths.
Most new cases are mild. The death rate is at 0.74%, one of the lowest in the Americas, with 4,382 cases and a lethality rate of 0.74%.
Nevertheless, there were two deaths reported for Bulletin #816. 192 people are hospitalized with Covid-19, down from the previous day, while 19 are in ICU Covid-19 units.
There are reports of a long-lasting cold with symptoms of sore throat and dry cough that has people testing for Covid-19.
As per Bulletin #816, with the deadline of 12 June 2022, the Ministry of Public Health has registered 592,578 PCR or antigen-confirmed cases since the first case on 1 March 2020.
People can purchase a low-cost antigen test for home use and treatment of the virus at home. In case the test is positive, people are likely to seek medical treatment but the case will not be entered into the Covid-19 statistics unless the person repeats the test in an authorized lab. As reported, most cases have been mild, not meriting people requesting lab PCR tests or lab antigen tests. So far there has not been a spike in cases, nor yet a fourth wave as has occurred in the United States, Puerto Rico, Europe and Asia.
First time Covid-19 lab tests were 4,870. The number of first-time lab tests compares with the 14-day average is at 4,104, down from the previous day average.
The 24-hour positivity declined from 18.77% to 18.40%. The national 4-week positivity rate for the 12 June 2022 Epidemiological Bulletin #816 declined to 8.87%.
The record vaccinations for one day is 184,208 on 10 June 2021. For the 12 June 2022 dateline, Our World in Data reports 3,720 first and second dose vaccines were applied. The 7-day average is rising and is now at 3,596.
The Vacunate government website reports injecting 7,227,364 first doses of the vaccine and 5,988,206 second doses as of 12 June 2022 in a country with an adult population of 7.8 million. For the same 12 June 2022 bulletin deadline, the Ministry of Public Health is reporting that 2,361,120 people had received the third booster shot. The fourth booster shot is also available on demand. The government has ordered all with the first two shots to get the booster shot. The government began to vaccinate for the Covid-19 virus on 16 February 2021.
By global standards, the Dominican Republic has been relatively successful at treating Covid-19 and keeping the number of deaths low. For the 12 June 2022 deadline, Worldometer lists the 1M deaths per inhabitant rate for the Dominican Republic at 396. According to the same 1M deaths statistics, fewer people have died of Covid-19 in the Dominican Republic than in Brazil at 3,101, the United States at 3,094, Argentina at 2,804, Colombia at 2,694, Italy at 2,776, the United Kingdom at 2,613, Russia at 2,602, Spain at 2,289, France at 2,269, Germany 1,663 and Canada at 1,082, all major markets for Dominican tourism and countries with overall better health systems.
two Covid-related deaths was recorded for the 12 June 2022 deadline. No death was reported having occurred in the previous 24 hours of the deadline. As of the 12 June 2022 deadline, 4,382 persons are reported to have died of the disease in the Dominican Republic, a nation of more than 10.8 million adults since March 2020. The fatality rate is at 0.74%. The fatality rate per 1M inhabitants is 419.39. Dominican physicians’ diverse treatment for the disease has been relatively successful in the region. The Ministry of Public Health reports that the country’s 419.39 fatality rate per 1M compares favorably to the average 1M inhabitants’ fatality rate for the Americas at 2,649.01 as of 12 June 2022.
The past seven days bulletin result highlights are:
Bulletin # 816: 591,682 confirmed cases, 896 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,514 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 18.40%. Two deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.39.
Bulletin # 815: 591,682 confirmed cases, 918 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,147 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 18.77%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.20.
Bulletin # 814: 590,764 confirmed cases, 706 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,188 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 18.09%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.20.
Bulletin # 813: 590,058 confirmed cases, 537 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,339 active cases. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.20.
Bulletin # 812: 589,521 confirmed cases, 543 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,342 active cases. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.20.
Bulletin # 811: 588,978 confirmed cases, 570 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,834 active cases. One death was reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.20.
Bulletin # 810: 588,408 confirmed cases, 830 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,805 active cases. Two deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.10.
As per the 12 June deadline, the cases continue to be concentrated in Greater Santo Domingo and Santiago, the leading metropolis. The cases are well spread out. There were 322 in the National District, 280 in Santo Domingo province, 67 in Santiago, 59 in Peravia, 23 in Duarte, 21 in San Cristóbal, 16 in Pedernales, 14 in El Seibo and Espaillat, 11 in Monseñor Nouel and 8 in La Romana, Baoruco and Azua, and 7 in San Pedro de Macorís and San José de Ocoa. There were 5 or less cases in 18 provinces.
Greater Santo Domingo leads in the number of reported PCR and antigen confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. As of 12 June 2022 at 6pm, the deadline for Bulletin #816, the most confirmed cases have been reported in the National District (154,989) and the Santo Domingo province (121,819) that represents Greater Santo Domingo, with the country’s highest urban density. The numbers account for 50% of the 592,578 PCR and lab antigen confirmed cases nationwide.
Other province case totals are: Santiago (63,457), Puerto Plata (19,600), La Altagracia (19,019), La Vega (18,793), La Romana (18,165), Espaillat (18,002), San Cristóbal (16,935), Duarte (13,451), Valverde (11,518), San Pedro de Macoris (9,862), San Juan de la Maguana (9,592), Maria Trinidad Sánchez (7,809), Barahona (6,770), Monseñor Nouel (6,398), Azua (6,385), Hermanas Mirabal (6,208), Sánchez Ramírez (5,770), Peravia (5,624), Dajabón (5,327), Montecristi (5,090), Santiago Rodriguez (4,640), Monte Plata (4,390), Baoruco (3,568), Hato Mayor (3,554), San José de Ocoa (2,784), Independencia (2,541), El Seibo (2,101), Samaná (2,082), Pedernales (1,655) and Elías Piña (1,298) as of the 12 June 2022 deadline.
Haiti is reported having 31,004 confirmed cases and 837 deaths, as per the 12 June 2022 global epidemiological deadline. Haiti has progressed very slowly with its Covid-19 vaccination program. Early on, the Haitian government rejected a first Covax facility donation of AstraZeneca vaccines. A donation of Moderna vaccines was shipped to 26 February 2022, 188,584 Haitians (1.62% of the population) had received at least a first dose of the Spikevax (Moderna) vaccine at the 149 open vaccination centers since the start of vaccination on 16 July 2021. Early on, Haiti rejected a donation of 100,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from the Dominican Republic. 132,177 Haitians are fully vaccinated (2 doses, 1.13% of the population) as of the 25 May 2022 update, of a population of more than 11.5 million people. New cold storage capacity donated by Canada will be posted on the border and could help increase the number of Haitians that are vaccinated. The Haitians rejected the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, but accept Pfizer and Moderna. The Pfizer vaccines that are available here for applying to the Haitians need to be kept at ultra-cold temperatures.
Already, hundreds of thousands of Haitians that live and work in the Dominican Republic have been vaccinated here. Most employers in the Dominican Republic have required their employees be vaccinated.
The Dominican government has authorized the vaccinating of Haitians with IDs and domicile in the Dominican Republic, but there is much resistance even among those living in the DR to get vaccinated.
Many ask for explanations regarding the low levels of deaths of Covid-19 in Haiti, a country with one of the lowest rates of Covid-19 vaccination in the world. Some attribute the low death toll and the low number of cases to a lack of reliable statistics. There is much truth there, but there is no hiding a surge in cases or deaths as has occurred in other countries. The reality may instead be that the generalized practice of vaccinating Haitians at birth with tuberculosis vaccine and the widespread use of Ivermectin have made the difference. Japan is another country with a very low mortality rate, also attributed to the practice of vaccinating children at birth with the tuberculosis vaccine.
Both generalized practices – tuberculosis vaccine and regular use of Ivermectin – – may be the explanation for the low death rates for Covid-19 in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, or throughout the island of Hispaniola. While not as prevalent as in Haiti, many Dominican pediatricians include the tuberculosis vaccine for babies in their list of inoculations for newborns. In border provinces, it is a regular practice. In the Dominican Republic Ivermectin was never included in the government list of treatments for Covid-19. The Dominican medical system adheres to US medical standards and big pharma has placed other treatments, many very costly, on the official list. The reality, though, is that Ivermectin since early on in 2020 became the most sought after over the counter treatment and one of the most prescribed by Dominican physicians for the virus for its availability, effectiveness and low cost.
John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
University of Washington Health Data
University of Oxford Covid Tracker
Worldometer
Our World in Data
14 June 2022