Another four deaths as Gibraltar 'loses its most valued generation'

Four more deaths from conditions related to Covid-19 were confirmed on Tuesday by the Government of Gibraltar, as Chief Minister Fabian Picardo mourned the loss of so many members of the evacuation generation.

All four were in their 80s or 90s, and two were residents of the Elderly Residential Services.

“The loss of another four residents of Gibraltar today is tragic and my deepest sympathies go to all those who have lost a loved one to this terrible virus,” said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, said.

“Gibraltar is losing our most valued generation.”

“These Gibraltarians who are sadly losing their lives to this virus are the same people who have survived the evacuation and some of the greatest challenges our community has faced.”

“These are very dark times for all of us as we see our community lose so many of our treasured elder generations.”

“Please, stay at home unless absolutely essential. If you do have to go out, lessen the risk to yourself and others by wearing a mask,washing your hands and keeping a safe distance.When the GHA offer you the vaccine, accept it.”

The latest deaths came as data pointed to the lockdown starting to take effect after a spate of cases likely due to have started with infections over the Christmas period.

Active cases in Gibraltar have decreased significantly since January 8, following a peak of 1209.

On Tuesday the Gibraltar Health Authority detected 32 new positives. While the figure was up from 26 on Monday, it was the result of 1,600 tests compared to 600 the previous day.

A further 52 people recovered on Tuesday, bringing the number of active cases down to 453 – the lowest since Christmas Day.

But despite those early positive signs, Gibraltar is reeling from the consequences of uncontrolled spread over the festive period.

Some 69 people have died since the pandemic began, with 62 dying in the past 26 days alone.

The majority of those who died were older members of the community.

The first death announced yesterday was a resident of Elderly Residential Services, a man aged 95 to 100 years old, who also had underlying health conditions and died of Covid-19 pneumonia.

The second was a woman in her early to mid 80s who had underlying health conditions and also died of Covid-19 pneumonitis.

The third was a resident of ERS, a woman aged 85 to 90 years old, who had underlying health conditions and died of Covid-19.

The three have been recorded as deaths from Covid-19.

The fourth death was a man aged 85 to 90 years old who died today of an acute cerebrovascular event.

He was positive for Covid-19 at the time of his death and also had other underlying health conditions. His death was recorded as a death with Covid-19.

OVER 4,000 CASES

The total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic now stands at 4,024.

Including cross-frontier workers, there are currently 554 active cases of which 452 are local residents, 101 are cross frontier workers and one is a visitor.

Over 152,000 tests have been carried out, including 32,559 tests which have been carried out so far in the frontline, targeted and systematic sampling.

Some 3,401 have recovered, but there are 102 people needing care – 57 in ERS, 35 in the Covid-19 Ward and 10 in the Critical Care Unit.

Of the 24 new resident cases in Gibraltar on Tuesday, 14 were close contacts of existing active cases and 4% of the local population was either active or in self-isolation.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our reporters are working round-the-clock to bring you the latest news on Gibraltar and the Covid-19 crisis. All our coverage on this critical issue is available free outside the paywall. If you find it useful, please help us reach more people by sharing our journalism. And if you want to support our work further, please consider subscribing to the digital version of our daily newspaper and all our premium online content. You can subscribe via our website or for iOS devices via the iTunes store. Thank you.