MINISTER of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, on Wednesday, advised persons to take the necessary precautions against COVID-19, especially since the Omicron variant of the virus is “spreading faster than anything before.”

While local health authorities have not yet recorded any cases of Omicron, the variant has been causing some concern in developed countries including the United States and several countries across Europe.

“With the Omicron variant, it is highly transmissible, because the characteristics of the virus have changed. It has about 52 mutations on the virus… and because of these changes, it has caused it to be more transmissible,” Minister Anthony said.

Minister Anthony, on Wednesday, said that while there is currently no cure for the virus, persons are urged to take necessary precautions to minimise the spread of the virus, which include wearing of face masks, sanitising, social distancing and getting vaccinated.

He said that one of the fastest spreaders of COVID-19 are persons who do not wear masks. The virus, he added, is most easily transmitted when persons leave their mouths and noses exposed.

The Health Minster further said that many persons are in possession of masks, but do not wear them properly thus increasing their risks for contracting the virus.

“If you wear a N95 mask, but you don’t wear it properly you are going to get infected. A lot of people might have a N95 mask, but they have it below their nose, which means that you could get infected and if you have it below your chin then your nose and mouth are exposed and you could get infected because you’d be able to breathe in the viral particles.

“So, if you’re wearing masks and you want to have protection, you have to wear it consistently and you have to make sure you’re covering your nose and your mouth,” the Health Minister said.

He further advised persons that the best protection against COVID-19 is a combination of social distancing, wearing masks and frequent sanitisation.

“If you’re close up to someone, you’d have more viral particles coming at you than if you’re further away… when you’re further away, it prevents that because it then dissipates and if you’re wearing the right types of masks obviously, you’re not going to get infected once you’re wearing it properly,” Dr. Anthony said.

VACCINATION
According to COVID-19 statistics released on Tuesday, some 410,181 adults and 30,214 adolescents have received their first dose of one of a COVID-19 vaccine which the country has made available to citizens.

Those numbers, when broken down, mean that 80 per cent of the country’s adult population and 41.4 per cent of its adolescent population have received their first shot of a COVID-19 “jab”.

In terms of second doses, statistics show that 57.2 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated, representing some 293,601 persons, while 21,527 adolescents received their second shot, representing 29.5 per cent of that population.

“Booster doses are going up gradually. We have had 10,708 persons receiving their booster dose and again I want to encourage persons to take their booster doses to get protected against Omicron,” Dr. Anthony said.

With the exception of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, for persons to be considered fully vaccinated with the available vaccines, namely, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik V and Pfizer for adolescents, they must be administered both components of those vaccines.

The Health Minister reminded that COVID-19 is spread by people’s behaviour, so if persons are not adopting safe practices, there is a high possibility of them being infected, with some suffering mild consequences while others could die.

“Different individuals will have different vulnerabilities and we can’t say well this person will get a mild form and that one will get a severe form and that is why everybody needs to really protect themselves,” Dr. Anthony said.

He added: “If you are going to play hide and seek and have parties because you think that’s the right thing to do, you might get away with it because the task force cannot monitor everything. But think about this, you are putting yourself, your friends, your family in danger of getting a deadly disease and is that really necessary.”