BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 20th August 2021)-Chief of Staff at the Joseph N. France General and member of the COVID-19 National Task Force Dr. Cameron Wilkinson has reported that the first recorded patient infected with the Delta variant of COVID-19 has recovered  while more samples will be sent abroad for further testing.

“This was an inbound passenger who was in quarantine, and has since recovered. It is comforting to know that the Delta variant was found in someone who was in quarantine and has since recovered and was not found at large in the community.  We will be sending off further samples for genomic sequencing,” he stated while appearing on ‘Leadership Matters’ weekly episode aired on ZIZ Tuesday 17th August 2021.

Dr. Wilkinson expressed: “With the high transmissibility of the new Delta variant, there is an increased urgency to reach as many people as quickly as possible with the vaccine. The Delta variant is the most contagious we have seen so far.The World Health Organization has called it the fast and fittest of all variants. Without vaccination and a mask, an infected person with the original virus would infect 2.5 other persons under the same conditions, a person infected with the Delta variant will infect nine other persons.”

According to him: “Some data suggest that the Delta variant might cause more severe illness than previous strains in unvaccinated persons. I said a couple of weeks ago that it was only a matter of time before the Delta variant arrived at our shores. It was not a matter of if but when it was going to arrive and that we all needed to prepare for this eventuality. Samples were sent off to CARPHA for genomic sequencing on July 28. The results returned over the last 24- 48 hours confirmed the presence of the Delta variant in one of the samples tested. This was an inbound passenger who was in quarantine, and has since recovered. It is comforting to know that the Delta variant was found in someone who was in quarantine and has since recovered and was not found at large in the community.  We will be sending off further samples for genomic sequencing.”
 
He pointed out that a number of neighbours on this side of the globe already have the Delta variant including Trinidad and Tobago. Grenada, Martinique and Guadeloupe, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Anguilla, Saba, the United States Virgin Islands and St. Martin.
 
“We will not be spared and we must be prepared for the eventuality. If too many people remain vulnerable, and become infected with this variant, our health care system will become overwhelmed and more people will die.”
 
Dr. Wilkinson said unvaccinated individuals are at greatest risk.
 
“The unvaccinated among us are at greatest risk. Unfortunately, most of our children who cannot be vaccinated can be more impacted by the Delta variant than other variants or the original virus. Our elderly are also more likely to become symptomatic, be hospitalised and die if infected with the Delta variant.”
 
In calling on more individuals to get vaccinated, he had this to say: “This means that they are even more dependent on us who can be vaccinated for protection. Yes, it is true that if you are vaccinated you can still get infected by the Delta variant but being vaccinated offers you significant protection against symptomatic disease, hospitalization and death.  The vaccine is our best defense against this highly contagious and deadly variant. The higher the proportion of the population fully vaccinated, the better our defence will be against the Delta variant.”