In January 2020, the Ministry of Health embarked on an unpredictable and tedious journey of having to deal with the novel coronavirus COVID-19 – new to everyone at the time. By March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, and persons around the world – including Anguilla – felt its impact though strict health protocols, lockdowns, isolation, infections, hospitalisations and death.
Speaking at the Government press briefing on Monday, April 4, Anguilla’s Premier, Dr Ellis Webster, thanked the health team – under the leadership of Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Aisha Andrewin, and Permanent Secretary with responsibility for Health, Mr Foster Rogers, for the time and expertise that were put into helping this country get to where it is today.
He observed: “Our people are healthy, despite the loss of nine lives. We have been able to control the spread of the virus, and open up the economy, so that we are getting back to the touristic numbers that Anguilla is known for.
“The Minister of Tourism and I were at a meeting recently, and we were told that it is because of the way that the health protocols were handled – steadily and not making the decision to open things up too quickly – persons felt safe in our midst. Visitors to our land are complimenting the good work that has been done.” Dr Webster attributed this observation to the health team and the Government of Anguilla.
Permanent Secretary, Mr Foster Rogers, also extended thanks to the entire health team, including persons at the different levels within the health team unit, for their steadfast work and dedication to ensuring that the “raft of policies” had been in place – and to the public for adhering to them.
He noted: “We are to a point now where we can relax quite a bit of our procedures. Humans are not made to be shut down and locked up. We only did those things that we thought were necessary, and we are now at a mid-way place where we have done enough to protect the people – and we will continue to monitor the situation.”
COVID-19 NEWS
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Aisha Andrewin, noted, that despite the increase in COVID-19 cases attributed to the BA.2 version of Omicron, WHO is reporting, for the second week in a row, a 14% decrease in cases – globally – but also noted an increase in deaths due to “changes in definitions of death and reporting of some countries.”
She indicated that there is still a high level of viral transmission signalling that neither the pandemic nor the emergency is over. Instead, individual countries are now responding to the virus in a more local context, with vaccination coverage being identified as the best protection against infection, severe illness, hospitalisation and death.
Dr. Andrewin continued: “We are not sure what is on the horizon. We are not sure if the apparent ‘upticks’ are as huge as the original Omicron variant, but we cannot understate that there are still lots of unknowns, although things are looking more positive than negative.
“Of the samples sent off for sequencing, lately, the Omicron variant is still the dominant strain in Anguilla. We have not seen any BA.2 version detected as yet.
“But, with the necessary and warranted dropping of restrictions, individual responsibility becomes more and more important. We can protect ourselves through vaccination – in addition to the basic public health measures which we should keep in mind.”
The Ministry of Health continues to encourage eligible persons to receive the vaccines and booster doses that are made available to them at the various clinics on the island. This call is an effort to increase vaccination coverage island-wide, and remove more of the COVID-19 restrictions on Anguilla. Persons are also reminded to continue to reduce risk of COVID-19 infection, and spread, by adhering to the public health protocols.
Covid Statistics for Anguilla as of April 4
Confirmed Cases:
2,717
Recovered: 2,692
Active: 16
Deaths:9 (7 unvaccinated adults; 2 vaccinated adults with underlying risk factors; 6 males, 3 females)
New Cases: 13
New Deaths: 0
Isolation Unit: 1 (1 vaccinated 81 year old male)
