Sunday (July 11) marks one year since the Cayman Islands have gone without local transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

The country is among only a handful worldwide that have achieved this milestone.

Minister for Health and Wellness, Sabrina Turner, has said the milestone is a testament to the island’s robust vaccination programme among other  strategies.

“The country as a whole should be proud. It has taken so much work and often personal sacrifice for us to reach this point, where we can say we have survived a year without an outbreak or a high-risk environment,” Turner said while speaking about the vaccination programme.

Minister Turner, however, warned that complacency still poses a risk to the community at large and urged all residents to remember that the battle to prevent community spread is far from over.

“We cannot be complacent and must remain vigilant and mindful of the potential risk of not achieving an 80% vaccination rate,” she said.

“I want to take this opportunity to remind the communitythat the more peopleare vaccinated, the higher our population’s level of protectionbecomes. This gives us hope that we could be celebrating another year from now,” she added.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr John Lee used the occasion to thank workers including port workers, healthcare workers, as well as the wider government for their efforts and commitment.”

 “We are witnessing that vaccinations reduce the impact of COVID-19 on public and community health around the world, adding to the body of real-world evidence of their effectiveness.This is vital as we seek to find ways to reduce travel restrictions, “ Lee said.

Following Lee’s lead, Governor Martyn Roper similarly noted that he was proud that Cayman had reached the  “landmark achievement”  and thanked the whole community for their outstanding efforts in getting there