Twelve

inmates and two staff members at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre

have tested positive for coronavirus.

It said that

these cases were reported in the last 24 hours.

As per

public health guidelines, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said that

the persons who tested positive will be placed in isolation and that contact

tracing will be done.

In a statement,

Matthew Samuda, Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry of National Security,

said: “This development in the institution has occurred despite our rollout of

protocols established by international bodies like the World Health

Organization (WHO); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other

benchmark corrective organisations versed in the management of outbreaks within

correctional institution. These infection prevention and control protocols have

been in effect across the department for well over six months.”

He continued:

“The department has been consultative in its approach to controlling the cases

in the institutions, collaborating with the health ministry and public health

departments to conduct testing programmes in centres once any positive cases are

detected. We recently met with the public defender as well to ventilate

existing measures at the facilities and seek counsel on what other measures she

considered would aid us in our management of the pandemic.”

Samuda also said that the DCS would be revisiting its tracking measures given the situation and release results of the COVID-19 tests immediately rather than by its twice-weekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays) modality on the dashboard on its website.