Tonight, we begin with the latest COVID numbers - because our lead story is about the fact that Belize could be back to pre Omicron levels by the end of the month.
Tonight, one more death has been reported, an unvaccinated female from Stann Creek. 337 new cases were also identified, 86 of them from Belize, 65 from Cayo, and 58 from Orange Walk. The daily positivity rate is at 16.8% - which continues the steady downward trend.
There are also 19 hospitalizations, 8 unvaccinated, 5 partially vaxxed, 5 fully vaxxed and one not announced. Seven patients are currently admitted in the ICU.
And while things are still dire, the country is in a much better state than it was this time last month. In fact, according to the epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health, Dr Russell Manzanero, if things continue along this path, the country may return to pre-Omicron numbers by the end of this month.
It's a projection that the epidemiology unit came up with based on the data they have. Dr Manzanero is confident that if Belizeans continue following the safety protocols, we could see a sharp drop in COVID cases.
However, that also means keeping the curfew and mask regulations as well. He explained it to the media over ZOOM a few hours ago.
Dr. Russell Manzanero, Medical Epidemiologist, MOH
"According to the model that we were peaking in the early parts of January and pretty much we maintained that thigh number of cases for some time until we actually had mentioned that it was becoming stagnant or plateau, and then it would start to have a downward trend. You all have been following you numbers at this time so you have been seeing that positivity rates from late December to January were pretty much almost at thirty percent. Now that we are seeing these numbers we are seeing that there is a downward trend, for example over the weekend we are seeing that it was less than twenty percent. So, the number of total test that we are seeing positive of the total test and these are the numbers you are starting to see now. In regard to the model we are seeing there, it is pretty much saying that by mid or ending of February, you should start seeing a downward trend of cases in regard to where we are at. However, I must say that models in itself change and particularly the nature of Omicron in itself is very fluid, we really can't develop a true model to tell you this is what's going to happen, because Omicron is spreading so fast and the transmission rate is so high. So, if we continue as is with our public health measures vaccination coverage, we can see that there will be numbers decreasing. However, if we are not enforcing the use of the mask, or not getting our vaccines, all these numbers can change, so definitely modelling depends a lot on our behaviours as well."
