Confirmed: Highest COVID Wave on Record
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa
On Wednesday, we shared information which indicated that Belize has reached a record high of COVID-19 cases. Deputy Manager of the Ministry of Health and Wellness’s Central Health Region, Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, confirmed that yes, this is the highest wave and record, to date, in Belize.
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Deputy Manager, Central Health Region
“We know that Omicron will cause a significant wave because of how transmissible it is. Definitely this virus is acting in the way we expect it, with regards to Omicron. That’s why we had to come out with the statement and say that clinically, epidemiologically, we have Omicron in country because of how many persons are getting infected and how quickly, as well as how – there was a slight change in the presentation of persons who were infected. Now we have to also keep in mind that we still have Delta circulating in country and when you do test positive on a rapid test or on a PCR or when someone from the Ministry of Health and Wellness calls you to say you’re positive, at that point we don’t know if you have the original strain or if you have Alpha or if you have Omicron or Delta. We’ve got to look at the evidence when we do our gene-sequencing. So far we know that Delta was predominant up to the middle of December. Now we’re awaiting another set of gene-sequencing to see if we can identify Omicron laboratory as well.”
Marion Ali
“Okay, but this is quite a wave. This seems to, if we could compare this current one with the previous ones, this one has outdone all the rest.”
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa
“Yes, definitely. We have six thousand five hundred plus active cases currently in country. And we have been seeing between five hundred to a thousand new cases daily from the latter part of last year, starting from the twenty-ninth, thirty-first, the first, we started to see the increase. Yesterday we had gone just to eight hundred and seventy-eight cases I think yesterday. And we continue to see cases in all our facilities countrywide.”
