COVID-19 cases are on the rise again, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Aisha Andrewin, OBE, reported at the government’s press briefing on Wednesday, 23 March 2022.
She noted: “Globally, the outlook for the last two weeks has seen a slight uptick or increase in [COVID] cases – an increase of 8% last week and an increase of 7% or 9% the previous week. Fortunately, so far, we have not seen an increase in deaths – deaths continue to exhibit a decreasing trend across the world.”
Dr Andrewin attributed the increase in cases to the highly transmissible Omicron variant which is dominant globally.
She stated that “of the last 412,982 specimens sent for sequencing, 99.8% were Omicron…which has about four sub-lineages thus far.” One of those sub-lineages, – the BA.2, has now become the dominant one and is a plausible reason for the overall increase in COVID cases worldwide.
“So far, [BA.2] has proven to be even more transmissible than Omicron. However, so far, we have not seen an increase in the severity of cases,” Dr Andrewin noted.
She stressed that although cases of BA.2 do not appear to be very severe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is concerned about the possibility of it overwhelming healthcare systems, services and business communities, as well as it being under reported due to persons experiencing mild symptoms and not being tested.
Dr Andrewin observed that, so far, no cases of BA.2 sub-lineage have been reported by CARPHA, and the last specimens from Anguilla that were sent for sequencing have all been identified as the Omicron variant.
She also shared that the Ministry of Health is doubling efforts to vaccinate persons in the most vulnerable groups, especially those who are 65 years and older and those with underlying risk conditions.
All eligible persons are encouraged to take the vaccines in an effort to increase vaccination coverage island-wide, and remove most of the COVID-19 protocols that are currently in place for Anguilla.
Covid Statistics for Anguilla as of March 23
Confirmed Cases: 2,689
Recovered: 2,618
Active: 12
Deaths: 9 (7 unvaccinated adults; 2 vaccinated adults with underlying risk factors; 6 males, 3 females)
Isolation Unit: 2 (1 vaccinated, 1 unvaccinated; ages 71 and 81)
Vaccination Statistics for Anguilla as of March 14
Fully Vaccinated: 62% adult population 40% ages 12-17
18% 1st dose ages 5-11
