OMICRON IS HERE: Health minister says protocols under review as variant continues to surge

More than 160 health care workers in quarantine

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville yesterday said officials are reviewing protocols on gathering as local testing has confirmed the presence of the highly contagious omicron variant in country.

“What we are concerned about, like every country in the world when we begin to see signs of exponential growth or spread, we have to look at the protocols as it relates to people coming close proximity to each other and make some adjustments,” Darville said to reporters outside Cabinet.

“We intend to do so but we are watching the numbers but that 800 plus number I think that was on Friday that is of great concern to us.”

The Bahamas recorded 818 cases on Friday — a record single-day number of infections since the onset of the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness reported 521 cases for Monday with hospitalized cases climbing to 118.

There were 164 confirmed imported cases from travel: 152 in New Providence; five in Abaco; five in Exuma; three in Eleuthera; and two in Grand Bahama.

Last week, the government suspended plans to introduce a mandatory RT-PCR testing requirement for vaccinated travelers. The protocol was expected to take effect on Friday, January 7.

Yesterday, Darville said: “We are very concerned with the numbers, as a matter of fact our team at the Ministry of Health are reviewing some of the protocols. The Bahamian people can rest assured that the circumstances at the hospital, we are definitely working diligently to ensure patients who do come in whether it is for COVID or for other reasons are able to get services.

During a national address on Sunday, Prime Minister Philip Davis said every Bahamian and resident in The Bahamas is likely to be exposed to the omicron coronavirus variant multiple times in the coming weeks.

He underscored the variant was so transmissible that every Bahamian must consider how prepared their body was to fight the virus.  Davis maintained that getting vaccinated, and boosted, provided an excellent chance of reducing the severity of the infection.

Yesterday, Darville said officials were still awaiting final confirmation of omicron from a lab in Panama.

Darville said: “We are still testing and sending samples abroad to make sure that what we are seeing is absolutely correct and we have been confirming that the majority of cases in The Bahamas is the omicron variant. Through the reference lab, they do some preliminary testings and they are confident that it is here while we await the final confirmation from Panama.”

Darville added: “This is not confirmed by lab from abroad but local sequencing here on the island at our reference lab is definitely pointing in that direction. They are confident that the omicron variant is in the country.”