ORANJESTAD- After having remained Covid-free for a very long time, today there are 14 ‘active’ cases on St. Eustatius since Thursday morning.

After a number of positive tests earlier this week, contract tracing and testing started on Thursday morning. A total of 107 persons were tested, which yielded 11 positive test. This brings the total up to 14 active cases.

Holdout

St. Eustatius has long been the sole holdout among the islands of the former Netherlands Antilles, since Saba now also has a considerable outbreak of up to 20 cases since yesterday. All islands have seen considerable increases over the past week and Bonaire yesterday confirmed that about 25% of all positive tests now concern the Omicron strain. While more contagious, so far the strain is considered less serious in the sense that it leads to less hospitalizations.