By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

COVID-19 deaths have risen to 220 after three new deaths were reported over the weekend.

Additionally, 111 new cases were recorded between Friday and Saturday, pushing the nation’s coronavirus toll to 11,184.

According to data issued by the Ministry of Health, two deaths were confirmed on Saturday: a 73-year-old Andros woman who died on May 15 and an 80-year-old New Providence woman who died on May 13.

In Friday’s data, the death of a 74-year-old New Providence man, who died on May 10, was reported.

A report from the Ministry of Health dated Thursday, May 13, also said a 43-year-old woman from the Berry Islands died from the disease on May 9.

Twenty-six other deaths are currently under investigation.

In terms of new cases, on Sunday, 50 were reported: 44 of which are in New Providence, while there was one each in Grand Bahama, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Inagua, and two in Exuma.

A day earlier, 61 cases were reported. Fifty-one of them are from New Providence, two are from Grand Bahama, six from the Berry Islands and two from Andros. There are only two from New Providence with a history of travel.

So far Bahamians have received about 36,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by the Indian government and also received through the Pan American Health Organization’s COVAX programme.

Although cautioned against it by PAHO, the competent authority has mentioned easing COVID-related restrictions for those who have taken the vaccine. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control has said all those who are vaccinated are no longer required to wear a mask. No such change has been issued locally, however.

Now experiencing the third wave of COVID-19, the Bahamas has a total of 11,184 cases with 10,059 cases recovered.