John Culatto
ONE person has died with COVID-19 amid 14 new cases detected in the last week throughout Gibraltar.
The death brings the total number of casualties to 107 since the first cases were recorded on the Rock in March 2020.
Four of those infected are being treated at the COVID-19 ward of St Bernard’s Hospital, with no-one in intensive care.
One person from a local elderly home has been detected to have contracted the COVID-19 virus.
The Rock’s population reacted positively to grave predictions about how the lethal coronavirus could spread in the small community.
Many stayed indoors during the first wave of the pandemic, to the extent that no-one died during that time.
It helped keep infection to a minimum until the second wave during the winter of 2020-21, when COVID-19 claimed the lives of nearly a hundred people.
Gibraltar then became one of the first places to receive the Pfizer vaccine, helping to drastically decrease the strength and spread of the disease that has claimed 6.45 million deaths worldwide.
Since then, over 40,000 members of its population as well as Spanish workers received the two vaccines and the booster, one of the greatest uptakes of the jab anywhere in the world.
Smaller numbers took the third and fourth vaccine, resulting in nearly 125,000 shots being distributed to its population of just over 33,000 as well as 10,000 daily commuting workers.
Gibraltar government funds helped sustain tourism-focused businesses during the lockdowns, although the vaccine helped to stop the massive explosion of cases initially forecast.
READ MORE:
- A Covid cold front: Gibraltar health boss warns of unexpected winter coronavirus consequences
- Vaccine proves effects as Gibraltar COVID-19 cases hit rock bottom
