COVID-19 pandemic in the Dominican Republic
COVID-19 pandemic in the Dominican Republic | |
---|---|
Disease | COVID-19 |
Virus strain | SARS-CoV-2 |
Location | Dominican Republic |
First outbreak | Wuhan, Hubei, China |
Index case | Bayahibe |
Arrival date | 1 March 2020 (4 years, 5 months, 3 weeks and 4 days) |
Confirmed cases | 661,103[1][2] |
Recovered | 666,396[3] |
Deaths | 4,384[1][4] |
Government website | |
Boletines Epidemiológicos |
The COVID-19 pandemic in the Dominican Republic was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was confirmed to have reached the Dominican Republic on 1 March 2020.
Background
[edit]On 31 December 2019, the Health Commission of Wuhan, Hubei, China, informed the WHO about a cluster of acute pneumonia cases with unknown origin in its province. On 9 January 2020, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) reported the identification of a novel coronavirus (later identified as the SARS-CoV-2) as the cause.[5] The disease in China affected over 80,000 people, causing over 3,200 deaths (as of March 25, 2020) and has now spread to over 210 countries and territories across the world.[6] As of 10 February 2023, a total of 15,917,363 vaccine doses have been administered.[7]
Timeline
[edit]
First confirmed cases
[edit]On 1 March, the first case in the country and the Caribbean was confirmed. A 62-year-old man from Italy entered the country on 22 February and fell ill on 24 February, when he was transferred to Ramón Lara military hospital from the beach resort of Bayahibe.[8] On 6 March, the second case in the country was confirmed as a Canadian tourist (also vacationing in Bayahibe) was detected.[9] On 8 March, three more cases were confirmed from Dominican nationals returning from a trip to Italy.[10] On 14 March, the Minister of Public Health, Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas, confirmed six new cases. All of the individuals had been outside of the country within the past 14 days.[11]
Local transmission
[edit]The first documented case of local transmission seems to have originated from a 56-year old Dominican woman from the town of Villa Riva on Duarte Province[12] who had traveled from Italy to the Dominican Republic on 26 February 2020.[13] The woman refused to be sent to Santo Domingo to be in isolation after receiving her COVID-19 positive diagnosis, returning to her home instead.[14] She seems to have passed on the virus to her neighbor.[15] Two weeks later, Duarte Province confirmed number of cases are only surpassed by the two larger urban centers (Distrito Nacional/Santo Domingo and Santiago) in the number of cases (29) and leads in the number of casualties (4). This cluster of cases seems to have originated around those in close contact with Mrs. Herrera Díaz.[16]
San Pedro Cluster
[edit]On the week of 16 March, a number of COVID-19 cases in San Pedro de Macorís Province (including its Senator José Hazim Frappier) and the Armed Forces Colonel Kalil Haché seem to have contracted the virus during a fundraising dinner on Club 2 de Julio in the city of San Pedro de Macorís.[17][18]
Punta Cana wedding
[edit]On 14 March, a high-profile wedding in Cap Cana seemed to be the COVID-19 infection source for a number of its attendees, which included many foreign residents. The wedding received a lot of public criticism for having had a "crazy hour" theme mocking the coronavirus concerns.[19] The chancellor of the Dominican Republic, Miguel Vargas Maldonado would have contracted the virus from his son, who attended the said wedding and also contracted COVID-19.[20]
Costa Favolosa cruise ship
[edit]Twenty Dominican doctors were exposed to the virus while celebrating their 30-year medical school graduation anniversary on board the Costa Favolosa cruise ship around the Caribbean. They started the journey on March 2, and before landing on 9 March, at least five in the Dominican party presented COVID-19 symptoms, and later tested as positive for the virus.[21]
First death and notorious casualties
[edit]The first COVID-19-related death was announced by health authorities on 16 March 2020, of a 47-year old Dominican woman who had recently traveled from Spain [15] On 24 March 2020, renowned designer Jenny Polanco, who tested positive on 15 March, died too.[22][23] On 27 March, Armed Forces Colonel Kalil Haché died at the Ramón de Lara Hospital;[24] the next day his widow died too.[25] Haché was elevated posthumously to the rank of Brigadier General. On 31 March 2020 writer René Rodríguez Soriano died.[citation needed]
Recoveries
[edit]On 23 March, the Minister of Public Health reported two recoveries, a 12-year-old child and a 26-year-old woman.[26]
Management
[edit]First measures
[edit]A number of schools and universities suspended classes due to COVID-19 concerns on March 16 and 17, with many switching to virtual learning platforms.[27]
National measures
[edit]On 17 March, President Danilo Medina gave an address to the nation and declared a state of emergency, announcing a series of measures to try and stop the spread of the virus.[28] He ordered all land, sea, and air borders be closed for the next 15 days, taking effect as of 19 March. Additionally, all commercial business activity was to be suspended, with the exception of supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations, and pharmacies. Schools were to remain closed through 13 April, and public employees who are 60 years of age or over, or those with a pre-existing health condition, must stay confined to their residences.[citation needed]
On 20 March 2020, the government decreed a mandatory night curfew from 8pm to 6am until 3 April. Only doctors and health workers, journalists, and guardsmen were exempt.[29] However, many residents in the Greater Santo Domingo area resisted the measure; on the first night, 1,714 were arrested during the curfew.[30] On the second night, 2,102 were arrested during the curfew.[31]
On 26 March 2020, the government extended the night curfew schedule to 13 hours: from 5pm to 6am.[32]
March 31, 2020, President Danilo Medina appointed (Decree 140–20) Doctor Amado Alejandro Baez as his senior advisor for Public Health and chief executive officer for the Presidential COVID-19 Committee.[33] The Presidential COVID-19 Committee was tasked with creating public-private partnerships as well as developing public policy, strategies and operations to combat COVID-19 at a national level. The committee presented on April 5 a comprehensive technology utilization, hospital capacity augmentation and Test-Trace- Treat strategy with a focus on strengthening local government capacities via public-private partnerships. The centerpiece of the strategy was "Public Value in Crisis Model" piloted on April 12, 2020, at San Francisco de Macoris (SFM) Duarte province. #PlanDuarte [34] targeted SFM as the highest case and mortality city at that time. Within two weeks of implementing #PlanDuarte the province started showing evidence of a positive impact in reported positivity, critical care use and mortality[35][36] in early May the focused and targeted approach to Duarte Province resulted in a statistically significant impact on Case Fatality Ratio for the whole country.[37] The Public Value in Crisis model was reproduced successfully in multiple other provinces and more recently became the hallmark on the National District strategy under the leadership of Mayor Carolina Mejia. On April 22, 2020, The first Dominican Epidemiology Intelligence Center was developed by the Presidential COVID-19 Committee under the leadership of Minister of Defense Lt General Paulino Sem, Counter Admiral Lee Balester and Doctor Amado Alejandro Baez. The Epi Intel Center was housed out of the Ministry of Defense C5i Center [38] and tasked with creating inter-agency "Intelligence Fusion" efforts that guided country-wide strategies and COVID-19 operations.[39] After the successful implementation of the C5i Epidemiology Intelligence Fusion Center, the Dominican Ministry of Public Health viewed this model as very important and effective and proceeded reproduced this effort four months later in August 2020, creating the MOH "Center for Public Health Intelligence" [40] After the epidemiological impact of COVID-19 post the July 5th 2020 presidential elections, the DR experienced a peak in positivity on July 23, after which a continuous deceleration was noticed up to late September, this prompted a formal public congratulations by the World health Organization to the Dominican Government on Sept 24th 2020 [41] the drastic improvements were noted on positivity rates, case fatality ratios and hospital capacity utilization, clearly this being evidence of all collective efforts of prior and current (August 16) authorities. Similarly on Sept 25th 2020, Dominican media reported the country as having one of the lowest mortality rates in the region (CFR ~1.9%)[42]
Local measures
[edit]A number of provinces decided to limit access to their territories to avoid contagion from COVID-19, such as San José de Ocoa,[43] and El Seibo, which remained case-free (as of March 26, 2020).[44] Other provinces in case-free areas asked their authorities for similar measures.[45] The National District of Santo Domingo under the leadership of Mayor Carolina Mejia, developed in conjunction with the Santo Domingo Health Cluster (www.clustersaludsd.org) the "Municipal COVID-19 Manual".[46] This manual was operationalized starting on August 18, 2020, and later launched to be reproduced comprehensively throughout all "mancomunity" municipalities [47]
Alternative measures
[edit]As options and new treatments emerged to combat the COVID-19 virus, there was talk of the possibility that convalescent plasma or hyperinmune plasma[48] was a viable option to treat. Since May 2020, multiple health institutions within an investigative protocol framework, regulated by CONABIOS, began its use.[citation needed]
The practical results[49] of its use, and those recovered in situ, increased the demand for this blood product.
From this growing demand, platforms and resolutions for the centralization of this blood product are born, such as donantes.com.do[50] and initiative No. 04749-2020-2024-CD carried out by the Permanent Commission on Health.[51]
International aid
[edit]On 3 April 2020, the World Bank released US$150 million to support the Dominican Republic's efforts to contain COVID-19.[52]
Statistics
[edit]Graphs
[edit]Daily New Confirmed Cases
[edit]![]() | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Daily New Deaths
[edit]![]() | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Cases per province
[edit]![Casos confirmados del COVID-19, al 03/28/2020](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Confirmed_cases_per_province_as_of_28-03-2020.png/459px-Confirmed_cases_per_province_as_of_28-03-2020.png)
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/COVID-19_growth_from_03-18-2020_to_03-28-2020.gif/459px-COVID-19_growth_from_03-18-2020_to_03-28-2020.gif)
Province | Cases | Deaths | Recoveries |
---|---|---|---|
Azua | 1,630 | 19 | 1,147 |
Baoruco | 396 | 3 | 176 |
Barahona | 1,368 | 16 | 881 |
Dajabón | 164 | 5 | 108 |
Distrito Nacional | 26,492 | 306 | 19,436 |
Duarte | 2,211 | 104 | 1,412 |
El Seibo | 325 | 2 | 199 |
Elías Piña | 209 | 2 | 136 |
Espaillat | 1,498 | 49 | 935 |
Hato Mayor | 159 | 7 | 64 |
Hermanas Mirabal | 431 | 22 | 321 |
Independencia | 195 | 5 | 129 |
La Altagracia | 3,292 | 23 | 2,436 |
La Romana | 2,009 | 31 | 1,496 |
La Vega | 3,293 | 76 | 2,298 |
María Trinidad Sánchez | 1,057 | 8 | 570 |
Monseñor Nouel | 980 | 17 | 683 |
Monte Cristi | 262 | 8 | 133 |
Monte Plata | 209 | 13 | 149 |
Pedernales | 431 | 3 | 357 |
Peravia | 977 | 31 | 568 |
Puerto Plata | 1,663 | 85 | 1,032 |
Sánchez Ramírez | 1,325 | 15 | 844 |
Samaná | 261 | 3 | 146 |
San Cristóbal | 3,527 | 89 | 2,729 |
San José de Ocoa | 361 | 11 | 222 |
San Juan | 1,354 | 19 | 826 |
San Pedro de Macorís | 1,345 | 24 | 877 |
Santiago Rodríguez | 377 | 7 | 283 |
Santiago | 9,957 | 216 | 6,110 |
Santo Domingo | 19,976 | 387 | 16,213 |
Valverde | 421 | 24 | 315 |
Not specified | 4,769 | 0 | 1,113 |
Total | 92,964 | 1,630 | 64,347 |
Source: http://digepisalud.gob.do Archived 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Ritchie, Hannah; Mathieu, Edouard; Rodés-Guirao, Lucas; Appel, Cameron; Giattino, Charlie; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban; Hasell, Joe; Macdonald, Bobbie; Beltekian, Diana; Dattani, Saloni; Roser, Max (2020–2022). "Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Our World in Data. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
- ^ "Dominican Republic: the latest coronavirus counts, charts and maps". Reuters. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ "Coronavirus Update (Live): 928,319 Cases and 46,512 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak – Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "Dominican Republic: the latest coronavirus counts, charts and maps". Reuters. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ "China identifies new strain of coronavirus as source of pneumonia outbreak". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak Across the World". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "Dominican Republic: WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard With Vaccination Data". covid19.who.int. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
- ^ |url=Dominican Republic confirms the first case of coronavirus | Elnacional.com.do">"Dominican Republic confirms the first case of coronavirus". Elnacional.com.do. March 2020. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "Canadian tourist is second Dominican Republic virus case". The Jakarta Post.
- ^ CDN, Redaccion (8 March 2020). "Salud Pública confirma tres nuevos casos de coronavirus en RD".
- ^ "Salud Pública informa seis nuevos casos de coronavirus son importados". Diario Libre. 14 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ "Primer caso de transmisión local de coronavirus es de persona que tuvo contacto con señora de Villa Riva". Listín Diario. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ Olivero, Alexa (13 March 2020). "Caso COVID-19 en Villa Riva: Cuando el coronavirus se le atribuye a la política". Diario Libre. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Centro Médico Siglo XXI: señora de Villa Riva se negó a ir a aislamiento a SD". 9 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b "República Dominicana reporta primera muerte por coronavirus". Diario Libre. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Imprudencia de señora que regresó de Italia provocó foco de contaminación en Duarte". Diario Libre. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ "Senador José Hazim entre afectados por Covid-19 en cena de San Pedro de Macorís".
- ^ "Senador Rubén Darío Cruz se pone en cuarentena y espera para hacerse la prueba de coronavirus".
- ^ "Se desconoce cantidad de contagiados en boda de Punta Cana, "fuente principal" de propagación Covid-19". 21 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "República Dominicana reporta primera muerte por coronavirus". Listín Diario. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ "El testimonio de una doctora dominicana que tiene coronavirus". Listín Diario. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ "En vivo | Diseñadora Jenny Polanco muere por coronavirus, suman seis en total". www.diariolibre.com (in European Spanish). 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Aumenta a seis los fallecidos y a 312 los infectados por coronavirus en República Dominicana". www.diariolibre.com (in European Spanish). 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Reportan muerte de Kalil Haché por coronavirus". Diario Libre. 27 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ "Fallece por coronavirus Elsie Barinas de Haché, un día después que su esposo Kalil". 28 March 2020.
- ^ "República Dominicana dará el alta a los dos primeros pacientes recuperados del COVID-19". www.diariolibre.com (in European Spanish). 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
- ^ "Coronavirus en RD: Colegios y universidades inician clases virtuales". 17 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "República Dominicana en estado de emergencia por el COVID-19". El Periódico (in Spanish). 17 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "República Dominicana establece toque de queda por el coronavirus". efe.com. 8 June 2023.
- ^ "Mil 714 detenidos por violar toque de queda; la mayoría en el Gran Santo Domingo y Santiago". listindiario.com (in Spanish). 21 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
- ^ "Más de dos mil arrestados en segundo día de toque de queda". Piénsalo (in Spanish). 22 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
- ^ "Presidente Medina extiende horario del toque de queda en todo el territorio nacional". Periódico El Caribe (in Spanish). 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "Danilo designa a Amado Alejandro Báez como asesor del Poder Ejecutivo en salud pública". 31 March 2020.
- ^ "Gobierno activa Plan Duarte para intervenir de manera integral la provincia". 14 April 2020.
- ^ Davis, Elliott (5 May 2020). "The Dominican Republic Responds to COVID-19 Locally". www.usnews.com.
- ^ "Provincia Duarte lleva siete días sin reportar muertos por coronavirus". 3 May 2020.
- ^ "Dominican Republic: WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard with Vaccination Data".
- ^ "Amado Báez: Pertenecer a este proceso es quizás el principal orgullo de mi vida". 22 April 2020.
- ^ "C5i, el nuevo centro de inteligencia epidemiológica contra el COVID-19". 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Ministerio de Salud deja en funcionamiento Centro de Inteligencia en Salud Pública". 15 August 2020.
- ^ "OMS felicita a República Dominicana por manejo pandemia de Covid-19". 24 September 2020.
- ^ "RD entre los de menor tasa de letalidad en AL". 25 September 2020.
- ^ ""Cierran" entrada a Ocoa para evitar contagio de coronavirus; no tienen casos confirmados". Listindiario.com (in Spanish). 23 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "El Seibo cierra su entrada para evitar coronavirus". portazona.do (in Spanish). 25 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "Más pueblos quieren cerrar por el Covid-19". Listín Diario.com (in Spanish). 24 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "ADN y el Clúster de Salud lanzan "Manual Municipal para la Prevención del COVID-1919"". 17 September 2020.
- ^ @CarolinaMejiaG (22 October 2020). "Desde que surgió la idea de hacer el..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Diario, Listin (12 May 2020). "Plasma hiperinmune: una esperanza que corre por las venas de pacientes convalecientes". listindiario.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ Diario, Listin (11 August 2020). "María Díaz espera reacción positiva luego de la transfusión de plasma". listindiario.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ "Regístrate, Dona, Salva Vidas". Donantes RDSV. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ "Iniciativa No. 04749-2020-2024-CD". Archived from the original on 10 November 2021.
- ^ "World Bank Releases US $150 Million for COVID-19 Response in Dominican Republic". Dominican Today. 3 April 2020.