Death toll rises to 70 as many set to receive second dose of vaccine

The Gibraltar Government on Wednesday confirmed the 70th death since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in a “tragic and painful” announcement that came amid news many older people were set to receive their second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The past 27 days have seen 63 people die from conditions relating to Covid-19, the latest being a man aged 75 to 80 years old.
“The loss of another resident of ERS to Covid-19 is extremely sad and my thoughts are with their family and friends,” Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said.
“I look forward to the day when we no longer have to make these tragic and painful announcements.”
Mr Picardo confirmed people are being called to book appointments for the second dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine.
As of Wednesday, the first dose has been given to 11,073 people.
“I hope that many in our community will find some comfort in the news that appointments for the second dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 are being set,” Mr Picardo said.
“This welcome development means that some of our most vulnerable will have the best immunity that they can have against this horrible virus.”
“But we all still need to take the greatest of care, whether you’ve received the vaccine already or not.”
“Gibraltar is still in lockdown: stay at home. Protect yourself and others by wearing a mask where you have to, wash your hands and call 111 as soon as you notice any symptoms. These simple things are how we win.”
The deceased was a resident of Elderly Residential Services who had underlying health conditions and died of Covid-19 pneumonia.
His death was recorded as from Covid-19.

STATS

The sad aftermath of a steep rise in cases over the festive period has seen seven people die from Covid-19 since Monday, January 25.
Active cases have slowly decreased since the peak of 1,209 on January 8.
On Wednesday, 438 active cases in Gibraltar were reported, around a third of the peak after 61 recoveries were confirmed.
But new cases continue to be detected.
The Gibraltar Health Authority carried out 1,196 tests finding 33 new cases.
Total confirmed cases now stand at 4,057.
Including cross-frontier workers there are 525 active cases, of which 437 are local residents, 88 are cross-frontier workers and there is one active visitor.
Of the 28 new resident cases in Gibraltar on Wednesday, 22 were close contacts of existing active cases.
Some 4% of the local population is currently active with Covid-19 or in self-isolation.
Cases in ERS continue to decline with 47 positives.
There are also 31 in the Covid-19 Ward and nine in the Critical Care Unit.