The Tribune

ALTHOUGH COVID- 19 cases have been declining in the region, a Pan American Health Organisation official has called for caution amid a rollback of public health measures, saying there is a risk of a new coronavirus wave as cases surge in other jurisdictions.

During a virtual briefing yesterday, PAHO Director Carissa Etienne urged countries to remain vigilant and urgently close vaccination gaps.

With Omicron BA.2 already detected in 8.7 percent of sequences reported from South America, she said “time and time again, we’ve seen how the infection dynamics in Europe are mirrored here (in the region) just a few weeks later.”

She also said: “We cannot ignore the risk of further COVID-19 surges.”

When asked by a reporter about countries in the region rolling back restrictions amid falling case numbers, Dr Etienne said: “As you know, cases of COVID-19 are falling overall but we still have more than 620,000 new cases a week in our region. Each of these infections has the potential to cause severe disease or death, especially among those who have not been fully vaccinated. So let me say that the pandemic is not over and so we urge people to remain cautious.”

Meanwhile, PAHO Incident Manager for COVID-19 Dr Sylvain Aldighieri confirmed yesterday that Omicron is the dominant strain in The Bahamas, however it is not yet known if the newer Omicron variant, BA.2 is here.

“Omicron is the predominant variant of Sars.Cov.2 that has been detected in the Americas, including the Caribbean,” Dr Aldighieri said in a response to a question about The Bahamas. “Regarding the situation in The Bahamas, I would say thanks to a very close collaboration between the National Public Health Laboratory and the PAHO office in Nassau and the PAHO regional surveillance network, it was possible to detect, to characterise the circulation of the variant of concern, Omicron, in samples that were taken by the (National) Reference Laboratory in Nassau.”

He said the samples were processed and sequenced at a facility in Panama during February.

“So far only... Omicron BA.1 has been detected in The Bahamas. Nevertheless, as part of a sustained effort from the national public health laboratory, 100 additional samples were sent recently to the reference laboratory in Panama... to maintain the surveillance and to early detect the introduction of BA.2.”

Local health officials reported that just one new case of COVID-19 was recorded in the country on April 5. Nine people are in hospital with the disease.