BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Barbados on Wednesday confirmed that four of the 110 nationals who arrived here from the United States on Tuesday had tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), but the island is much better prepared now to deal with the virus than in March when it first surfaced in the region.

Health and Wellness Minister, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic told a news conference that the Jet Blue flight had brought home Barbadians who had been stranded in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared and international flights stopped.

He said that the Ministry of Health and Wellness received a report from the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory on Wednesday that four of the 110 passengers on board that flight tested positive for COVID-19.

“The four who are now in isolation at Harrison Point, St Lucy are three women, aged 53, 25 and 20 and a 39-year-old man. They were among a total of 187 people tested yesterday. One result is pending and all of the others were negative for the virus, but remain in quarantine.”

Bostic said that two of the four people who remained in isolation up to Tuesday were not being released after they were declared free of the virus that was first detected in China last December and blamed for more than 407,000 deaths and nearly seven million infections worldwide.

“The four new cases bring the number now in isolation to six and our tally of confirmed cases since March 16 to 96. Additionally, 83 people have recovered. Yesterday’s positive results for COVID-19 came after a 17-day hiatus since the last positive case on May 22,” Bostic told reporters.