KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton is urging Jamaicans to take the highly contagious coronavirus (COVID-19) Omicron variant seriously.

Tufton was addressing a COVID Conversations digital press briefing on Thursday, where he encouraged Jamaicans not to take Omicron lightly despite some conclusions that it may be a “less severe strain.”

“I urge us as a people, and those who comment and are influencers in the society, not to create a false sense of complacency and security because we have all concluded that the [variant] may be a less severe strain, because there is a direct relationship between the extent of spread, the unvaccinated and the vulnerable, and those who will end up in hospitals,” he said.

The Minister noted that the COVID-19 reproductive rate, now at 2.4 per cent, is cause for great concern as it means the virus is expanding greatly.

“It means that, under normal circumstances, we would desire a reproductive rate [well] below one [per cent]; 2.4 per cent means that the virus is expanding exponentially. It means, at this rate, we’re likely to see significant increases every two days [to] three days and, possibly, doubling of the numbers possibly, unless we cauterize the spread of the virus,” he said.

Tufton shared that the extent of transmission must be viewed in the context of the challenges Jamaica faces regarding capacity and limited resources noting that the new variant is “raging in countries that, on the face of it, have a lot more capacity in terms of doctors, nurses, [and] hospital facilities, [yet] many people are dying.”

“We are not a developed country with unlimited resources and hospital beds. In those countries, hospitals and hospital beds are being overrun [and] we have a vaccination rate that is lower than many of these countries,” he said.

Citing the United States as an example, Tufton shared that although their immunisation rate averaged 60 per cent, “they are being overrun in some states.”

Tufton also took the opportunity to encourage citizens to continue observing the COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures instituted to contain transmission, which includes mask-wearing, physical distancing, frequent and thorough hand washing and sanitising and vaccination.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, who was also a part of the digital briefing, said even as the island braces itself for a rise in COVID cases as a result of the Omicron variant, the Delta variant is still a threat.

“We probably still have a considerable amount of [the] Delta [variant] in [the] country as well. So we probably have different variants that are circulating. We need to remember that even though the Omicron [variant] has been shown to cause a less severe illness, our history shows that we have significant severity of illness in the country with the Delta [variant],” she noted.

The CMO went on to point out that with almost 80 per cent of the population still unvaccinated, “it means that we are still quite vulnerable to both the Delta and Omicron [variants] and, therefore, we need to ensure that we get vaccinated.”