Case 16 became super spreader COVID-19

The 16th person who tested positive for COVID-19 in Suriname reportedly got infected with the novel coronavirus during a trip to neighboring French Guiana. The person crossed the border illegally during the lockdown and returned to Suriname about a week prior to the general elections. This person continued working at an office. “All of the infections that took place in a very short period can be traced back to this person who was tasked with cleaning the office. It is clear that the health rules and regulations from the Health Ministry were not implemented,” said Ingrid Krishnadath, head of Public Health Office at the Anton de Kom State University Suriname, on Monday. “From the very start it was made clear that sick people must not show up at their work place and in particular when they have flu symptoms but in this specific case the recommendations were ignored. It was a week before the elections and there were many people at the office and those people did not stick to social distancing. Case 16 was tasked with cleaning the office and therefore touched many objects during the clean-up,” said Krishnadath who added that case 16 came in contact with case 14 but that case 14 infected more than 50 people. “We are finding more cases who can all be traced back to case 14. Although case 14 infected more people than case 16, case 16 is considered as the source of infections in this cluster. Case 16 infected about 9 people including case 14 and all of these people were tracked down and put in quarantine as soon as possible. Case 16 did not infect any other people but case 14 on the other hand came into contact with several big groups of people because of her work during the elections. DC Yvonne Pinas was labeled Case 14.