No report of XBB.1.5 COVID-19 variant in Jamaica

The ministry of health says there is no indication that the Omicron variant XBB.1.5, which is spurring the current COVID-19 surge in the United States, is present in Jamaica.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that the variant accounted for about 40 per cent of US COVID cases in the last week of December.

However, the health ministry says there have been no reported cases of this variant in Jamaica.

"There is no indication that XBB.1.5 causes more severe illness than any other Omicron variants, however, it is the most highly transmissible of the Omicron variants," it added.

In the meantime, the ministry says in the Americas, COVID-19 cases have been increasing for the past six weeks with 1,022,218 new COVID-19 cases reported in the week ending December 22, 2022.

For the same period, 4,637 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the region.

In Jamaica, there have been an overall 152,827 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with a reported 3,465 deaths. The country's current seven day average positivity rate is 4.5 per cent.

"The Ministry of Health and Wellnesss wishes to remind Jamaicans that getting vaccinated and adhering to infection prevention and control measures, including frequent handwashing and hand sanitising, mask wearing and physical distancing, is the best defence against COVID-19," it said in a media release.

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