Majority of newly recorded infection in recent days have had history of travel
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme Dr Nikkiah Forbes said yesterday that health experts will continue to carefully monitor a new, more transmissible omicron subvariant as it is still not yet known if it will cause another surge.
The new, more transmissible omicron subvariant BA.2 has become the dominant strain in The United States and the United Kingdom in recent weeks.
“We have to watch that because it’s still being determined whether or not it will cause a major surge,” Forbes said.
“Health officials in the US are hopeful that it won’t cause a major surge because in large part they have quite a number of persons vaccinated and maybe persons who had omicron, so hopefully that will help with immunity from severe illness and hospitalization.”
She continued: “The public health measures will work to protect against this strain, so things like high-quality masks, public health measures, getting vaccines and boosters, for example, will be helpful.”
Asked if vaccines could be less effective against the subvariant, Forbes said “quite probably” as omicron can cause breakthrough infections in those who are vaccinated.
But she maintained that vaccines and boosters have shown to protect against hospitalization and death.
In recent weeks, the United Kingdom has recorded record levels of infections, with around one in 13 people estimated to be infected with the virus.
More concerning is the rise in hospitalizations and deaths, although the number of people dying with the virus remains relatively low in the UK compared to earlier waves thus far.
The Bahamas has recorded low, single digit cases for weeks, but in recent days there have been fluctuations.
Four infections were recorded on Sunday.
All of these cases had a history of travel in the last 14 days.
Another 14 cases were recorded on Saturday, spread across New Providence, Grand Bahama and Exuma.
Of these, 12 cases had a recent history of travel.
“We do have to watch that carefully,” Forbes said.
“Travel is a risk for getting and spreading COVID, that is absolutely true.
“And so you do have to take precautions when you travel.
“And we do have to follow the numbers and the cases of COVID that are being reported carefully
“We do have to keep an eye on that because we know that we too can experience an increase in cases, especially in light of circulating variants and other things — our behavior, so that’s important to look at.
“Some of those days I think a lot of the cases had been reported together, but the tests had not necessarily been done in the 24 hours before, so we’re watching it carefully.
“But the good thing is that hospitalizations and deaths remain low at this time.”
The Bahamas has recorded few deaths in recent weeks.
Between February 1 and March 1, there were 23 deaths.
Between March 1 and March 15, six deaths were recorded.
Total COVID-19 deaths stand at 788 since the onset of the pandemic.
As of Sunday, there were 11 hospitalized cases with zero cases in Intensive Care Units.
The positivity rate on average in recent days was four percent, though testing does not appear to be as robust.
Restrictions continue to be incrementally eased in The Bahamas.
The Bahamian government was expected to remove the testing requirement for both vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers for inter-island travel last week, but there has been no public notice of the amendment to the COVID rules.
The data in the UK showed a steep incline in new infections since late February, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson largely discontinued coronavirus restrictions in England.
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