Tonight, we begin with the discovery of a new COVID subvariant - Omicron BA.5. Up until last week, there were no confirmed cases in Belize, but at midday today, the Ministry sent out a press release noting that one patient has testified positive for the subvariant.
In their press release, the Ministry of Health said that this person was tested between June 1st and 28th. As viewers are aware, the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are the predominant forms of the COVID virus that are circulating in the United States and globally at this time. Persons with these subvariants present varying degrees of symptoms ranging from a runny nose, sore throat, headache, tiredness, cough, body aches, and fever.
According to the Ministry, significant evidence still remains that vaccines protect against severe bouts of illness and even death from COVID-19. Some research has shown, however, that the BA.4 and the BA.5 subvariants may evade the protection of "neutralizing antibodies" from persons who recovered from previous COVID infections, as well as vaccination. Moreover, that evasion may happen 3 to 4 times more than prior variants and subvariants of the virus.
We contacted senior health officials for a comment on the detection of BA.5 in Belize, but they told us that they would be available tomorrow. We'll let you know then what this new development means for public health.
