By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

GOVERNOR-General Sir Cornelius A Smith has tested positive for COVID-19.

According to a press release yesterday, his test result was confirmed on the evening of August 15. Sir Cornelius has been vaccinated and is not showing symptoms, officials said.

“Sir Cornelius was tested last Friday, August 13, out of an abundance of caution after coming into contact with an individual who was COVID-19 positive,” the Office of the Governor-General said.

“Sir Cornelius is fully vaccinated and remains asymptomatic at this time. The Governor-General will abide by the established public health quarantine protocol.”

He also encouraged all Bahamians to get vaccinated.

Sir Cornelius received his first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at Loyola Hall in March.

This month Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson, who is also vaccinated against COVID, confirmed he tested positive for the virus.

He told The Tribune shortly after his diagnosis that he had mild symptoms and urged people to get vaccinated.

It was previously reported that attorney Wayne Munroe, who had not been vaccinated, had been hospitalised with COVID-19. Mr Munroe was released from Doctors Hospital last week.

Officials have continued to urge people to get vaccinated, adding that vaccines save lives. Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis, head of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Consultative Committee, said of the more than 400 people in hospital from mid-March to the end of July, none were fully vaccinated. During the same period, there were no COVID-19 deaths among fully vaccinated people, she said.

“We know that vaccines save lives,” she said on Sunday. “According to data collected by Dr Nikkiah Forbes and her team at the Princess Margaret Hospital, between March 14...and July 31, 411 patients were hospitalised with COVID-19. Of that number, 400 were unvaccinated and 11 were partially vaccinated.

“No fully vaccinated persons were admitted to PMH for care during that period. That same period, 53 COVID-19 deaths were recorded—and we know this is an underestimate—but 52 were unvaccinated and one was partially vaccinated. There were no deaths recorded among fully vaccinated persons during that time.”

Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases continue to rise with 131 new cases recorded on August 15, bringing the nation’s total to 16,668.

One hundred and forty-two cases are in hospital with 15 of those patients in the intensive care unit.