COVID-19 pandemic in the Cayman Islands


The COVID-19 pandemic in Cayman Islands is part of the ongoing global viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019, which was confirmed to have reached the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands in March 2020.

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. From 19 March, Public Health England no longer classified COVID-19 as a "High consequence infectious disease".

Timeline

On 26 February Mexican authorities granted permission for a cruise ship registered in Malta to dock in Cozumel, Quintana Roo, because the ship was carrying a passenger presumed to be infected with the coronavirus. The ship was previously denied access to ports in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Two cases of flu were found.
On 12 March, a 68-year-old Italian man in critical condition, who was transferred from the cruise ship to a hospital in the Cayman Islands on 2020.02.29 due to heart issues, was announced as the first confirmed coronavirus case. His death was announced two days later.