Haiti Records Three Deaths In 24-Hour Period

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, May 11, 2020 (CMC) – Haiti has recorded 31 new cases and three deaths, associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, during the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Public Health has reported.

In its latest update on the virus in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country, the Ministry said the total number of cases is 182, since the start of the epidemic, here, on March 19.

It said most of the new cases were men, but gave no breakdown of the deaths. So far, 15 people have died, here.

“The number of active cases in Haiti, excluding death and recovery, now stands at 182 cases or 28 percent, since the last report from the Ministry,” the statement said.

Last week, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti called for immediate action to address health and humanitarian needs, alongside ongoing efforts to promote sustainable development and resilience to future shocks in Haiti.

It asked the United Nations, member states, donors, international financial institutions and others, to urgently act together to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and to mitigate its humanitarian and socio-economic consequences.

The Ad Hoc Advisory Group said six million people already live below the poverty line in Haiti and 40 percent of the population is food insecure, adding that the 2020 hurricane season, which runs from June through November, could further compound existing challenges.

“Unless adequately managed, the COVID-19 health emergency and its socio-economic impact could become a humanitarian catastrophe, threatening to unravel some of the hard-won development and security gains, achieved in the past decade-and-a-half in Haiti,” it said.