and 590 were active local cases. as of 3 september, total confirmed cases in grenada were 1098, with 124 imported cases, 868 active cases, 225 recovered cases and 5 deaths. out of 868 active cases, 9 were active imported cases and 859 were active local cases. as of 9 september, total number of cases in grenada was 1947, with 1576 active case, 352 recoveries and 19 deaths. as of 22 september, total number of cases in grenada was 4552, with 2194 active case, 2273 cures and 85 deaths. as of 28 september, total number of cases in grenada was 5039, with 1543 active case, 3361 recoveries and 135 fatalities. as of 9 october, total number of cases was 5619, with 364 active case, 5078 recoveries and 177 fatalities. november to december 2021 in october, active cases continued to fall, bottoming out at 53 active cases on november 18, and only two additional deaths in october. on november 19, however, cases began to slowly climb upwards again. as of 19 november, total number of cases was 5866, with 54 active case, 5612 cures and 200 deaths. as of 29 december, total number of cases was 6009, with 124 active case, 5685 cures and 200 deaths. january to march 2022 as of 4 january, total number of cases in grenada was 6787, with 873 active case, 5714 cures and 200 deaths. as of 8 january, total number of cases was 7669, with 1736 active case, 5733 cures and 200 deaths. as of 22 january, total number of cases was 11190, with 2609 active case, 8376 cures and 205 fatalities. as of 25 january, total number of cases was 11816, with 2142 active case, 9467 recoveries and 207 fatal cases. as of 4 february, total number of cases was 12774, with 851 active case, 11712 recoveries and 211 deaths. as of 11 february, total number of cases was 13172, with 456 active cases, 12503 recoveries and 213 deaths. as of 21 february, total number of cases was 13532, with 204 active cases, 13114 cures and 214 deaths. as of 25 february, total number of cases was 13661, with 229 active cases, 13218 cures and 214 fatalities. as of 27 february, total number of cases was 13679, with 209 active cases, 13258 cures and 216 deaths. as of 3 march, total number of cases was 13690, with 138 active cases, 13336 recoveries and 216 deaths. as of 18 march, total number of cases was 13936, with 217 active cases, 13659 cures and 217 deaths. april to june 2022 as of 8 april, total number of cases in grenada was 14024, with 58 active cases, 13748 cures and 218 deaths. as of 13 april, total number of cases was 14092, with 66 active cases, 13807 recoveries and 219 deaths. as of 25 april, total number of cases was 14428, with 263 active cases, 13945 cures and 220 fatal cases. as of 1 may, total number of cases was 14743, with 412 active cases, 14111 cures and 220 deaths. as of 11 may, total number of cases was 16014, with 1181 active cases, 14612 cures and 221 fatalities. as of 26 may, total number of cases was 17482, with 891 active cases, 16366 have recovered and 225 deaths. as of 13 june, total number of cases was 18035, with 281 active cases, 17523 have recovered and 231 deaths. as of 23 june, total number of cases was 18205, with 126 active cases, 17849 have cured and 232 deaths. july to december 2022 as of 8 july, total number of cases in grenada was 18531, with 178 active cases, 18120 have cured and 233 deaths. as of 19 july, total number of cases was 18655, with 156 active cases, 18266 have cured and 233 deaths. as of 26 august, total number of cases was 19268, with 261 active cases, 18266 recoveries and 236 deaths. as of 7 september, total number of cases was 19403, with 109 active cases, 19058 have cured and 236 fatal cases. january 2023 onwards as of 30 january 2023, total number of cases in grenada was 19680, with 84 active cases, 19354 have cured and 238 fatal cases. prevention emergency powers the government of prime minister keith mitchell instituted a series of increasingly tightening social distancing and quarantine policies that eventually led to a full country lockdown. prior to the island's first case (but in anticipation of it occurring), schools and public gatherings were banned and social distancing encouraged on march 14. it was known that at least three persons who later tested positive to covid-19 elsewhere had traveled through grenada. following the first confirmed case on march 22, the airport was closed to commercial traffic and remained closed indefinitely. shopping lines in st. george's, grenada during the covid-19 pandemic on march 25, emergency powers were implemented to restrict movement and nightly curfews. businesses unable to enforce social distancing were ordered to be closed (e.g., many restaurants and bars became take-out only). these were quickly revised into a full, 24-hour lockdown on march 30, where all citizens were to remain in their homes and all business were closed except essential services described in the act. specific grocery days were permitted under control of the rgpf, and various changes were experimented with how to effectively handle shopping days (e.g., surname days, times for senior citizens, etc.). the first 24-hour period was to last one week, but following continued exposure of new cases, it was expanded for two additional weeks (thru april 20), then another week (now with relaxed protocols), and again for a fifth week (thru may 5). on april 18, emergency powers were officially extended an additional six months, solely as a precaution should new cases arise (rather than have them expire every few weeks). with no new cases in the first week of may, prime minister keith mitchell announced a relaxation of the 24-hour curfew rules, with pre-approved businesses (e.g., grocery stores, banks, etc.) allowed to open every day again, beginning may 11, albeit with continued maintenance of a curfew from 7pm to 5pm. among other things, construction projects and landscaping could also restart, as could travel between the sister islands, although international borders would remain closed until early june. nonetheless, the ban on public buses remained in effect, limiting access to those who owned private vehicles, and restaurants remained take-out only. these easements continued into the week of may 25, with the reopening of retail stores and beautification shops (e.g., hair salons and barbers), as well as public ferry service between grenada and carriacou. no date was given for opening the airport, but minister steele ensured the public that a two-week notice would precipitate the airport opening and that it would not happen until at least a "three month supply" of rapid tests had been acquired on island (see economic effects below). similarly, public buses were not yet allowed to recommence service, and negotiations with the bus association were frayed by government's refusal to allow a $0.50 price increase in return for the spatially-distanced, reduced passenger loads required (bus transport restarted on june 1 despite lack of agreement) (see economic effects below). as cases continued to decline throughout june 2020, emergency powers were continued, but with incremental loosening. on june 16, the daily curfew was loosened from 5am to 9pm (previously from 6am to 7pm) and in-dining restaurants were allowed, so long as they were approved by the ministry of health beforehand. on june 28, the curfew was again relaxed to 5am-11pm, remaining so until september 2021, when community spread occurred. testing and tracing as faster testing (e.g., antibody tests) became available through the help of st. george's university and venezuela, the government became increasingly confidant in very low (if any) community spread. while the pm has mentioned june as an anticipated full internal opening (still keeping borders closed), the low spread of the disease has encouraged the rgpf to offer increasing exceptions to the lockdown rules. by april 18, government relayed their expectation to relax the 24-hour curfew period after april 27, since they had then tested 116 pcr and 82 "rapid" (antibody) tests, with no new cases discovered (although widespread testing will continue). indeed, they also announced that 7 of the infected persons had now recovered. however, this attitude of victory soon changed on april 20. at the start of the relaxed-curfew week (april 20–24), the rgpf made a morning press conference clarifying the businesses allowed to open and general protocols for the next week, which included opening parish boundaries for the first time in four weeks. many people rightly treated this as the start of a reopening period. but at noon, minister nickolas steele made an emergency announcement that a new patient (case #15) had been admitted to the general hospital on april 19, exhibiting symptoms of covid-19 and tested positive for the rapid (antibody) test. after two days of waiting, the patient was confirmed positive via multiple pcr tests. since the individual—as far as is known—had not traveled, nor been in contact with anyone who had traveled, nor been in contact with any positive cases, it appeared to be the first case of community spread, likely acquired from an undiagnosed, asymptomatic case. on april 25, the third such asymptomatic case was confirmed (like the others, considered "import-related"), along with two colleagues of case #15. it was also announced that 175 pcr and 1000 rapid tests had been conducted to date (april 25), including 69 employees from the workplace of case #15 and 57 tests in carriacou and petite martinique. by april 29, it was announced that 1200 rapid tests and 206 pcr tests had been conducted, although the number of positive rapid tests was not released, as the official count is based solely on active cases confirmed via pcr. by may 5, 2020, 309 pcr and 1472 rapid tests had been conducted, which were then expanded for several rounds of testing of the factory in tempe (related to case #15). these tests came back negative, confirming that community spread (if it occurred at all) had now abated. on may 12, the ministry of health reported they had conducted 412 pcr tests and 2007 rapid tests in total. on may 15, upon announcing the 22nd positive case, ministry of health recorded 2459 rapid tests conducted and 454 pcr. by may 25, contact-tracing investigations into case #15 were said to be closed, with no further individuals having tested positive. it remains unclear, however, whether case #15 was indeed a case of community spread or someone at the factory had acquired the virus through interactions on the port. the entire crew of at least one cargo vessel with whom case #15 interacted with was tracked down and tested, but all were negative. regional cooperation in instituting its response to the pandemic, the government of grenada has worked in concert with paho, carpha, and regional governments. however, the closing of borders led to tension with st. vincent's, where the government of ralph gonsalves was much more lax. on april 11, gonsalves criticized mitchell's treatment of grenada's grenadine islands, stating "i want to say to the people of carriacou & petite martinique that if you have difficulty in getting food, we can help"—to which mitchell, when asked in a press briefing, called "grossly irresponsible." the spat was a reminder of the historical tensions regarding ownership of the grenadine islands. following a deadly fire on may 19, 2020, at union island's only petrol station, grenada announced efforts were underway to offer daily refueling assistance. economic effects general economy as with the rest of the world, the covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on grenada's economy, least not the ripple effects of a collapsed tourism industry. on march 20, 2020, the government announced a stimulus package to provide income support to small businesses, suspension of various taxes, and unemployment benefits to eligible citizens, which took about a month to fully roll out. seven sub-committees have also been set up to focus on the needs of tourism & citizen by investment, construction, education, small businesses, agriculture and fisheries, manufacturing, and e-commerce. to help meet the short-falls, grenada a received rapid loan of us$22.4 million from the imf, in a package aimed at the eastern caribbean countries of dominica, grenada, and st. lucia, more than doubling