CMO confirms covid19 delta variant in community spread 'for several weeks'

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said the delta variant of the covid19 virus has been in community spread for several weeks.

Parasram was speaking at the Ministry of Health’s weekly press conference on Monday.

He said, “Delta seems to be in community spread for a couple weeks, if not longer.”

He added that travel protocols continue to be updated and amendments will be made if they are deemed necessary going forward.

The delta variant is more easily transmitted than the original strain of the virus.

As far as the ministry could tell, he said, none of the delta infections had had covid19 before.

He said most of the delta patients are at home.

“We may have one or two in isolation, more for decreasing the risk of spread than for medical reasons, but I will have to confirm that.”

He said four of the newest cases announced on Sunday were contacts of previously reported delta cases. On Sunday, the ministry announced six more delta variant cases, one of whom was an unvaccinated minor national recently returned from New York.

The other five had no recent history of travel.

He said the ministry was able to identify four of them because of their relation to the two previous cases.

He said testing is ongoing, but it takes two to three weeks to get delta samples.