Health Ministry Issues Warning About Delta And Other COVID-19 Variants

• The Ministry of Health and Wellness is advising Jamaicans travelling overseas to observe strict safety protocols to prevent importation of the Delta and other variants of the coronavirus (COVID-19). 
• Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, who was addressing the Ministry’s virtual COVID Conversations press briefing recently, said preliminary reports coming out of the UK indicate that this variant has been found to be 40% more transmissible. 
• Expressing concern about the highly contagious and virulent nature of the Delta and other COVID-19 variants, the CMO said maintenance of quarantine measures for persons who come into country are even more important to prevent importation of these variants. 
• Bisasor-McKenzie encouraged Jamaicans travelling abroad to continue to practise established COVID-19 safety protocols, even when they enter those jurisdictions that do not require maintenance of the precautions. 
• “They may bring back into the country a variant that is naïve to the population and, of course, that means that it will spread very, very quickly within the population. With the vast number of persons in country that are not vaccinated, we remain at risk from all the strains of the COVID-19. So we are still at risk of exposure for the variants, which present an additional risk,” she emphasized. 
• With only 5.5% of the population partially vaccinated, the spread of Delta or other COVID-19 variants of the virus would result in the re-imposition of strict containment measures that would constrain commercial activity and reduce the likelihood of a recovery in economic activity this year.

(Source: JIS & NCBCM Research)