Dominica vaccinates 45.2% of its target population against COVID19

The National Epidemiologist of Dominica, Dr Shalauddin Ahmed, on Friday, stated that the country recorded 48 new cases of COVID-19 as of September 23, 2021. He said the current number of active cases in the country is only 581.

Dr Ahmed stated that over 2650 people successfully recovered from the virus islandwide, while 14 people lost their lives to the contagious disease. He said the Ministry of Health, Wellness and New Health Investment conducted 70,185 COVID-19 tests since 2020.

National epidemiologists stated that 51% of the adult population took at least one dose of the vaccine, and 45.2% of the target population is now fully vaccinated.

He said out of 581 active cases, 6% of patients are facing very severe illness, while 8% are moderate, and the remaining are either asymptomatic or are experiencing extremely mild symptoms.

Dr Ahmed said the 76% of coronavirus patients in Dominica are unvaccinated, while only 24% of them are vaccinated against the virus. He advised people to be careful as the Delta Variant of COVID-19 is more dangerous. He said the new surge in cases is caused by the Delta variant because it is different from its previous COVID strain as it has at least three mutations on its spike protein. He said the variant evades the body's immune system easily and is at least 60% more transmissible.

"The Delta variant caused COVID cases to rise from 210 in a year and half to 3035 within two months in Dominica; a 14-fold increase within a short period of time," stated the National Epidemiologist of Dominica.

He said prior to delta, children under five were rarely infected with COVID in Dominica, but now 5% of the cases include children below five.

Dr Ahmed said that each person infected with the Delta Variant can infect on average 8/9 other people. He emphasized that the viral load of people infected with Delta is 1000 times higher than people infected at the beginning of the pandemic because it transmits within four days as compared to the original strain in 6 days.