A one-year-old has been diagnosed with the Delta variant of the coronavirus according to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs.
The Ministry in a statement on Monday confirmed 19 new cases of the variant, stating that all the cases are nationals ranging in ages from one to 59 years and that 11 of them are females with the rest being males.
Confirmation of the numbers in the Delta variant came from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).
“Fifty percent of them (are) from the south-eastern zone of the island,” the Ministry stated, referring to the new cases of the Delta variant.
This new discovery comes in the midst of the festive season causing the Ministry to reiterate its message of caution and warning individuals to be on guard now more than ever.
This warning has grown in urgency now that the newest variant on the market, Omicron is in the Caribbean having been discovered in Trinidad and Tobago. Saint Lucia presently has diagnosed a total of 54 cases of the Alpha variant, 51 cases of the Delta variant and zero cases of the Omicron variant thus far.
“There is very high risk of the new variant Omicron being imported into the Caribbean region given its detection in a wide range of countries. At this point countries are advised to continue strengthening their national protocols that are already in place,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar-George.
She said the Ministry of Health continues to send monthly samples to the Caribbean Public Health Agency as part of its surveillance system to detect the existence of variants in country, since the Agency has the capacity to detect the Omicron variant, and that the Ministry is monitoring it closely, and is doing all in its power to ensure that citizens are safe.
“Based on the information on variants, we know that they can cause severe disease in particular to the most vulnerable. Our first line of defense must be prevention followed by control and reduced transmission measures. The effectiveness of the available vaccines suggests that the current vaccines remain effective against severe disease and death,” Belmar-George said.
She added that, “In an effort to reduce the impact of this new variant and COVID-19 in general, specific interventions are necessary,” explaining that these include prevention and control measures, public health and social measures.
“Vaccination and booster doses for those advised remains our most important measure at this point in reducing the health implications of this new variant,” the CMO said. According to her everyone who has not been vaccinated should do so “urgently.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the Omicron variant appears to spread faster than the Delta variant which has been attributed to the surge in cases across the world in the last several months.
Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia Region said that the world’s focus must continue to be to protect the least protected and those at high risk.
“The big question right now is how will Omicron compete with other variants that are circulating in populations? For example, will Omicron outcompete Delta or not? It’s still a little bit early for us to have a full understanding, but what we can say is that some of the mutations that are identified in Omicron will provide a growth advantage, will allow it to be more transmissible,” WHO’s Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said in a recent podcast.
“This is a concern that we have and as we know, more cases, if there’s more increased transmissibility, which is what we are seeing, we’ll have more cases. More cases mean more hospitalizations and more hospitalizations can put health care systems that are already overburdened into a state where people will not get the appropriate care that they need,” Van Kerkhove added.
As of December 19, 2021, Saint Lucia has diagnosed a total of 13,166 cases in country with 88 active cases. The daily infection rate for the last seven days is 3 per 100,000 population per day, with a 3-4% testing positivity rate and a transmission rate of 0.8.
Currently, there are nine positive cases at the Respiratory Hospital; one case is “critically ill” and another is “severely ill.” To date, Saint Lucia has recorded 295 COVID-19 deaths.
The pandemic has affected frontline workers severely. According to Alicia Baptiste, President of the Saint Lucia Nurses Association, “never have we seen that level of stress by our nurses and it’s throughout the country; our nurses are stretched thin.”
But according to global data trends, the pandemic is far from over.