Hon Malone released the latest status update during a COVID-19 update last evening, Friday, July 23, 2021, where he also indicated that as long as the VI follows the established protocols, the active case count will continue to drop.

"We are not out of the woods, no matter how cliche it might sound, the fact is I am reading about other island nations that they are beginning to see what we witness in the past 10-14 days, this will continue throughout the world, sad to say we have now recorded a total of 25 deaths," Hon Malone further announced.

The Health Minister said, however, that authorities are trying to avoid hard lockdowns as it is detrimental to persons and to economies.

Hon Malone noted that if the economy will re-open fully and work for the territory, then persons must be able to adhere to all the protocols that are currently in place.

Gov't avoiding hard lockdowns - Hon Malone

"We can only continue to do that [avoid lockdowns]... if we continue to adhere to the protocols that were put in place, we have a curfew it starts at 7:00 pm nightly, and runs until 5:00 am the other morning, during the day hours we must be able to stay at home," he said with the exceptions of people who must out.

Hon Malone noted that if the economy will re-open fully and work for the territory, then persons must be able to adhere to all the protocols that are currently in place.

Meanwhile, total vaccinations in the VI is 16,033 total first doses and 11,112 total second doses according to the latest stats from the Health Ministry.

To date, the VI has seen 2,389 total recorded COVID-19 cases the Health Minister said.

Tortola currently has the highest number of active infections with 946 cases, followed by Virgin Gorda with 96, Jost van Dyke with 28 cases, and Anegada with 4 cases. 35 cases are also being housed on vessels in the territory.