The number of cases for Bulletin 823 was 603, down from 794 on the previous day. This number compares to the 7-day nationwide average for confirmed lab-reported cases that is now 785, on the decline. Nevertheless, active cases increased to 3,940 from 3,611. Ronald Skewes, director of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health says that in context the increase in cases is well below the Omicron wave that occurred over the holidays.
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.
Masks are again being used for large indoor events, and a large number of people continue to wear masks in supermarkets and stores, for instance.
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, expect to pay around RD$1,800 for an antigen lab test.
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. Most tests being carried out at labs are antigen tests, an indication that most cases are similar to a cold and are being taken care of at home. The lethality rate is at 0.74%, one of the lowest in the Americas, with 4,382 cases.
There were no deaths reported for Bulletin 823. 219 people are hospitalized with Covid-19, up from the previous day, while 24 are in ICU Covid-19 units, down from the previous day.
There are reports of a long-lasting cold with symptoms of congestion, sore throat and dry cough that has people testing for Covid-19.
As per Bulletin 823, with the deadline of 19 June 2022, the Ministry of Public Health has registered 598,079 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 3,637, down from 4,796, with most antigen lab tests. The number of first-time lab tests compares with the 14-day average is at 4,424, down from the previous day average.
The 24-hour positivity increased to 16.58%, up from the previous day. The 4-week positivity rate for the 19 June 2022 Epidemiological Bulletin 823 increased to 10.23%.
The record vaccinations for one day is 184,208 on 10 June 2021. For the 19 June 2022 dateline, Our World in Data reports 3,274 first and second dose vaccines were applied. The 7-day average is now at 3,547.
The Vacunate government website reports injecting 7,230,772 first doses of the vaccine and 5,992,001 second doses as of 19 June 2022 in a country with an adult population of 7.8 million. For the same 19 June 2022 bulletin deadline, the Ministry of Public Health is reporting that 2,368,092 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 19 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 3,105, the United States at 3,101, Argentina at 2,804, Colombia at 2,694, Italy at 2,783, the United Kingdom at 2,618, Russia at 2,605, Spain at 2,297, France at 2,273, Germany 1,664 and Canada at 1,087, all major markets for Dominican tourism and countries with overall better health systems.
No Covid-related deaths is recorded for the 19 June 2022 deadline. No death was reported having occurred in the previous 24 hours of the deadline. As of the 19 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 2,652.88 as of 19 June 2022.
The past seven days bulletin result highlights are:
Bulletin # 823: 598,076 confirmed cases, 603 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,637 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 16.58%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.39.
Bulletin # 822: 597,476 confirmed cases, 794 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,611 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 16.56%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.39.
Bulletin # 821: 595,927 confirmed cases, 963 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,799 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 16.33%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.39.
Bulletin # 820: 595,927 confirmed cases, 963 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,799 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 16.33%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.39.
Bulletin # 819: 594,061 confirmed cases, 903 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,576 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 15.21%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.39.
Bulletin # 818: 594,061 confirmed cases, 737 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 3,739 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 16.56%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.39.
Bulletin # 817: 593,324 confirmed cases, 746 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, 4,215 active cases. 24-hour positivity is 19.29%. No deaths are reported for the deadline. The fatality rate per 1M is 419.39.
Bulletin # 816: 592,578 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.
As per the 19 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 166 cases in Santo Domingo province, 161 in the National District, 130 , 15 in San Cristóbal, 13 in Valverde, 12 in Hato Mayor and 10 in Duarte. There were 9 or less cases in 26 other provinces.
Greater Santo Domingo leads in the number of reported PCR and antigen confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. As of 19 June 2022 at 6pm, the deadline for Bulletin 823, the most confirmed cases have been reported in the National District (156,442) and the Santo Domingo province (123,062) that represents Greater Santo Domingo, with the country’s highest urban density. The numbers account for 50% of the 598,079 PCR and lab antigen confirmed cases nationwide.
Other province case totals are: Santiago (63,926), Puerto Plata (19,772), La Altagracia (19,245), La Vega (18,869), La Romana (18,249), Espaillat (18,046), San Cristóbal (17,048), Duarte (13,639), Valverde (11,670), San Pedro de Macoris (9,975), San Juan de la Maguana (9,699), Maria Trinidad Sánchez (7,834), Barahona (6,852), Monseñor Nouel (6,439), Azua (6,418), Hermanas Mirabal (6,258), Sánchez Ramírez (5,833), Peravia (5,790), Dajabón (5,459), Montecristi (5,150), Santiago Rodriguez (4,660), Monte Plata (4,435), Baoruco (3,668), Hato Mayor (3,586), San José de Ocoa (2,822), Independencia (2,568), El Seibo (2,140), Samaná (2,093), Pedernales (1,700) and Elías Piña (1,302) as of the 19 June 2022 deadline.
Haiti is reported having 31,054 confirmed cases and 837 deaths, as per the 19 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 first donation of Moderna vaccines was shipped to 26 February 2022, 191,568 Haitians (1.7%% 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. 134,525 Haitians are fully vaccinated (2 doses, 1.2% of the population) as of the 15 June 2022 update, of a population of more than 11.5 million people.
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
21 June 2022