SOME medical practitioners are reporting a surge in the number of people requesting COVID-19 tests, and an increase in positive results, mirroring the rise in the national numbers.

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton hinted last week that the country was seeing the start of a fourth wave, and prior to that, he said following the confirmation of one case of the Omicron variant, he suspected there were others among the population.

Medical director at Windsor Medical Centre Dr Alfred Dawes believes, too, that it is highly likely the Omicron strain is here “and is spreading like wildfire”, he told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

“There has been a dramatic surge in persons who have been coming in for COVID testing over the past week. The majority of these persons are showing mild flu-like symptoms, with a significant uptick in the positivity rate that we are are seeing that is mirroring the national data,” he said.

Jamaica had 96,331 COVID-19 cases up to Monday — or 3,381 cases more than a week earlier — and a positivity rate of 40. 6 per cent. This is just about seven percentage points less than the rate at the end of August, when the country was in the throes of a third wave of COVID-19 infections.

The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for COVID-19 out of the total number of individuals who are tested, and is an indicator of the approximate rate of spread of the virus. The World Health Organization’s recommended positivity rate threshold is currently five per cent.

Dr Dawes said as the numbers continue to rise, there could be daily case counts of more than 1,000 in the coming week.

“The good thing is that most of these persons who we have started on early outpatient treatment are not reporting any deterioration in their status thus far, and it is likely that the illness is as mild as reported in other countries, and the early outpatient treatment that we are administering [is] helping significantly. We continue to monitor the situation closely and follow up with our patients as well as ramp up our testing capacity to meet the growing demand,” he explained, noting that the majority of people are patients, not individuals testing for travel purposes.

Caribbean regional director for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, another Ministry of Health-approved COVID-19 testing centre, Dr Kevin Harvey, also said that there is an uptick in demand for tests, noting that seven of 12 people tested there Tuesday were positive.

“So I think it’s safe to say that there is an increased demand and a marked increase in positivity,” he told the Observer, pointing out that in the weeks prior to December 23, when the centre was closed for the holidays, there was a marked decline in positive results.

Family doctor at Ruthven Medical Centre Dr Marc Ricketts said his practice has also been experiencing an upsurge in patients testing positive for COVID-19, as well as severe cases of influenza.

“What I have also noticed in my practice is the people who test positive have symptoms that are nothing more severe than a cold or flu. As a matter of fact, cases that have been more severe are the cases that have proven to be the flu, and test COVID-negative. In other words, I am seeing cases of flu that are worse in terms of severity than COVID cases,” he said.

Dr Ricketts stressed that “the patients will tell you this is the worst flu they have ever had. Interestingly enough, many of those patients have been fully vaccinated [for COVID-19]”.

Meanwhile, director at Pure Jamaica Medical Centre Ramon James said the COVID-19 numbers at his facility have been matching with the jump in the national statistics.

“… We have definitely seen an increase in testing that correlates with some of the numbers we are seeing nationally, not just the testing, but we are seeing an increase in positive numbers,” he stated.

James noted that the centre also receives a significant number of people testing for travelling, as well as those who have come in contact with positive cases.

The health ministry has projected that up to 2,000 people could be hospitalised in an Omicron-driven fourth wave of COVID-19, but says measures are being ramped up to handle any potential crisis.