By JADE RUSSELL

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A PAN American Health Organisation official has urged countries to remain vigilant in light of the emergence of two new fast spreading variants of COVID-19.

During a virtual briefing, PAHO director Carissa Etienne addressed the new variants BA.4 and BA.5.

PAHO’s virology advisor, Dr Jairo Mendez- Rico, said: “BA.4 and BA.5 have been detected in around 40 percent of their samples most recently sequenced from the Caribbean. Although, we don’t have official reports of any of those... from The Bahamas, we are closely following the most recent samples that are going to be sequenced to see if they are detected.”

Dr Mendez-Rico added there is no evidence indicating the variants are more severe than the Omicron variant.

Dr Etienne said: “An increasing number of countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean are also reporting these sublineages. Omicron BA.5 has been detected in at least 22 countries and territories and is likely to become predominant in all the subregions during the next weeks.

“The emergence of BA.4 and BA.5 is yet another reminder that the virus keeps evolving every time it is transmitted, and that we must remain vigilant. We must also strengthen genomic surveillance, which unfortunately has decreased in recent weeks due to less sampling in most countries and territories.

“This virus knows no borders, especially now that international travel has resumed. We must use every tool at our disposal to protect ourselves, particularly those of us most vulnerable to severe disease and death.

“This means reintroducing public health measures like masks and social distancing when cases spike. Some countries have already begun to do this.”

Additionally, a case of malaria was reported for the first time in ten years in The Bahamas in a Bahamian man who had recently travelled to West Africa.

PAHO’s incident manager for COVID-19, Dr Sylvain Aldighieri, said PAHO’s communicable disease department is collaborating closely with the Ministry of Health in relation to vector-borne diseases including malaria control.

He said that The Bahamas has strict protocols for preventing the reintroduction of malaria including the use of mosquito nets for managing suspected cases of it.

In regard to The Bahamas expecting to receive 24,000 paediatric doses of COVID-19 vaccines at the end of this month, a PAHO official said “we can feel confident” that the use of these vaccines in children will be effective.

PAHO noted that no vaccine is 100 percent efficacious; however, studies have shown that persons who are vaccinated have a higher rate of recovery.