Health officials in St Vincent and the Grenadines are reporting that the Gamma variant of the COVID -19 virus is the dominant strain on the island.
According to the CDC, the Gamma variant was first identified in Brazil but has now spread to more than 70 other countries.
Officials said that currently, twenty -four cases of the Gamma variant is present on the island.
While this variant does appear to spread faster than others, current data has shown no sign the variant causes “more severe illness or death than other variants,” according to the CDC.
The CDC says vaccines are currently being administered to work against this variant; however, specific monoclonal antibody treatments are less effective when treating cases of this variant.
On Tuesday, local health officials said there are currently Fifteen cases of the Mu and Six cases of the Delta also present on the island.
According to the Ministry of Health, an 82-year-old female admitted to the COVID-19 ward at the Milton Memorial Hospital with underlying conditions died and has brought the country’s death toll from COVID-19 to fifty-four (54).
Four thousand and six hundred and thirty-seven (4637) cases of COVID-19 and two thousand, nine hundred and forty (2940) recoveries have been recorded in St. Vincent and the Grenadines since March 2020.
Over 38,000 doses of vaccines have been administered in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
