Spokesman on Health Dr. Morais Guy - Gleaner file photo
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Dr. Morais Guy
The Parliamentary Opposition has expressed concern about the possibility of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus reaching Jamaica.
Spokesman on Health Dr. Morais Guy says the government should act cautiously to prevent another surge in COVID-19 cases.
Like the Medical Association of Jamaica, Dr. Guy believes the government should think twice before easing restrictions.
"We probably should take a leaf out of what the British are doing in delaying the opening of various sectors by a period. The fact is though, we are groping in the dark. We do not know what variant is here; whether we have the Delta, whether we have the Brazilian, whether we have the South African. We know that we have the Alpha, which is the British variant, and hence, to make the informed decisions is going to be challenging," he contended.
The Delta variant, first identified in India, now accounts for 90 per cent of COVID-19 infections in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Guy has also recommended random COVID-19 testing in communities to get a true picture of Jamaica's positivity rate so that the government does not get "lulled into a false sense of security that our positivity rate is going down and that things are getting better."
The latest positivity rate released by the Ministry of Health is 5.6 per cent.
CDC designates Delta a 'variant of concern'
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now calling the Delta variant of COVID-19 a variant of concern.
The new label raises the profile of the variant significantly.
Before, the agency marked the variant as one of interest.
According to recent estimates, 10 per cent of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. are caused by the Delta variant.
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