The number of COVID 19 cases continues to rise, with the latest figures showing more than 100 new cases for a third consecutive day.  144 more persons tested positive Thursday,  pushing the country’s case count to 51,686.

On Tuesday there were 122 new cases, while there were 138 on Wednesday .  Of the latest cases, 83 are females and 61 are males, with ages ranging from 4 days to 86 years.

A breakdown by parish shows, that St. Ann recorded the highest number of cases with 33, followed by Kingston and St. Andrew with 29.  St. Catherine 19, Westmoreland 16, St. Elizabeth 13, Hanover 9, Manchester 8, St. James 5, St. Mary and St. Thomas had 4 each, Clarendon 3, and Trelawny had 1 case. Portland recorded no new case.

The positivity rate is 11.2%.

Meantime, a 57-year-old male from St. James is the latest person to die from covid-19, pushing the country’s death tally to 1,168.  The number of people hospitalized due to COVID 19 has increased to 129 with 34 of them being moderately ill and 19 critically ill.   21 more persons have recovered from COVID-19, pushing total recoveries to 46,794.

There are 3,368 active cases.