JAMAICA has recorded seven more deaths from the coronavirus (COVID-19), while Trinidad and Tobago medical officials were urging nationals to wear masks properly in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.

Health officials in Jamaica said that there were also 95 new cases of the virus between Sunday and yesterday, pushing the total to 7,813. The number of deaths associated with the virus is now 146.

The recent deaths range in age from 30 years old to 73 years and the Ministry of Health and Wellness said that three new deaths are under investigation.

The new coronavirus cases included 46 females with ages ranging from one year to 96 years. The ministry said 75 more patients have recovered from the virus, pushing total recoveries to 3,237.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Chief Medical officer Dr Roshan Parasram, on Monday, appealed to citizens to wear their masks properly saying that research had shown that the virus is easily attached to proteins found in the nose.

“There is a bit of research into something called nasal negligence that was done earlier in the year by an international team of researchers, basically to say that persons were wearing their masks inappropriately, covering their mouths alone and they were at a greater risk of contracting COVID-19 because the nose seems to be a very important pathway where the virus could enter your body,” he told a news conference.

He said when the research was done, it was found that two particular proteins, the Ace 2 protein and the TMPRSS 2 protein “actually bound to the virus very well and facilitated the bounding in the nasal pathway as well as uptake into the lungs later on by a process called aspiration”.

He said while most people have been wearing masks correctly, many others have not and this is a cause for concern.

“There are some still not covering their noses, they are wearing it over their mouth alone and we want to guard against those kinds of scenarios because it puts you at much greater risks of getting infected”.

Latest figures show that Trinidad and Tobago has 90 deaths from the virus with 1, 753 active cases from the overall total of 5, 101 cases.

Two men, both of whom arrived in Barbados last week, are the island’s latest COVID-19-positive cases.

They are a 64-year-old Barbadian who came in on Jet Blue last Saturday and a 53-year-old visitor who arrived from the United Kingdom on British Airways on October 7.

The authorities said that the total number of tests conducted since February is 27, 773. There are now 15 people in isolation and recoveries increased to 186.

Barbados has so far recorded 208 cases of COVID-19, with seven deaths.

Meanwhile, Barbados has placed Canada, which has recently been recording a steep rise in coronavirus cases, with Ontario recording 809 new cases and on a list of people from high-risk countries that are required to have a PCR test done within three days before arrival, and must present the negative test result. They will be retested two or three days after arrival.

However, if that negative test result was not received in time for the trip, the visitor can have the test done on arrival in Barbados and must remain in quarantine until the negative test result is received.