Four days ago, the Ministry of Health and Wellness sent out a press release warning Belizeans about misinformation being circulated via WhatsApp saying that the COVID-Omicron XBB Subvariant was spreading around Belize.
According to the Ministry, this information is false, and they do not want to provoke panic and hysteria in the general public. They do note that while there has been a recent increase in the positivity rate for COVID-19, there has not been any increase in hospitalization. Nevertheless, the Ministry remains vigilant for viruses and other infectious diseases, and today, the Director of Public Health and Wellness hosted a teleconference press briefing to discuss it.
Here's what she had to say about the latest data on the current status of the virus in Belize:
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa - Director, Public Health and Wellness
"So, in Belize, we have experienced six waves to date: the first two from the original variant, the third from Delta, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth from omicron and its sub-lineages. As more information was discovered about COVID-19, and with the introduction of vaccines, countries were able to modify their response, and Belize did the same. We had seen quite high case fatality rates at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and for the first two years, and as that started to plateau due to the introduction of vaccines, as well as to the lesser severity of the omicron variant, we were able to remove all public health measures, and restriction, with regards to COVID on July 14, 2022. The Omicron variant, BA-5, and its descendant lineages remain predominant globally for the end of 2022 and 2023. Although the BA-5 sub-variant is dominant at this time, it has been denoted that four new sub-variants are rapidly increasing in a number of cases. So far, we know to date that there is no epidemiological evidence that these sub-lineages, particularly XBB, and BQ.1, will be of any greater risk compared to other omicron sub-lineages. So, the reproduction number is what we call the ROI, and that tells us how many persons will get infected by one infected person. For omicron, it was five, and now, for its sub-lineages, this number has gone up to fifteen. So, if one person is positive, they have to potential to infect fifteen other persons with the exact virus. So, that really just speaks of the transmissibility of the COVID-19 omicron variant and its sub-lineages. China is currently experiencing a surge of cases, as you all know. And according to a report by WHO's technical advisory group on virus evolutions. These are called the Tag-VE - I'm quoting. As nations clamp down on travelers from China during an omicron surge, their Chinese health experts have told WHO that two known omicron lineages are dominating the current Chinese. These are BA-5.2, and BF-7, accounting for 97.5% of all locally acquired infections in China. These variants are known and have been circulating in many other countries, and at the present time, there are no new variants reported by the Chinese CDC. China has only recently lifted the zero COVID policy, likely leading to an increase in transmission. And in addition to this, we must bear in mind that there are many uncertainties with regard to the efficacy of the vaccines that were used in China. So, these two factors compounded may as well be contributing to the current surges."
