Created at 07:54 am, February 26, 2022
Health statisticians have shown that the number of illnesses linked to environmental conditions has more than doubled between 2020 and 2025.
A spokeswoman for the health ministry suggested that the significant drop in reported cases of certain conditions could be a result of the massive effort to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Figures released as part the 2021 Environmental Statistics CompendiumThe number of cases of chronic sinusitis, acute bronchitis, and gastroenteritis all declined by at least 50% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
The spokeswoman said that it was likely due to the many public measures and other factors that affect how people access healthcare/hospital care.
The compendium reported that there were 2,548 reported cases of environmental related diseases in 2020, as compared to 5,071 in 2019, which is a 51% drop in year-over-year.
The number reported cases of bronchitis decreased from 546 to just 170. Chronic sinusitis cases dropped from 29 to 10.
These figures included 130 cases of gastroenteritis compared to 467 in 2019. The number of diarrhoea cases fell from 169 down to 98 during the same period.
There were no cases reported of imported malaria or dengue fever, and the number logged for poisoning fell from 75 up to 59.
There was no increase in any of the categories listed between 2019 and 2020.
The figures did not include Covid-19 cases, but it was reported that the island had 604 Covid-19 patients and ten coronavirus linked deaths in 2020.