Omicron cases double since Christmas Eve

The number of COVID-19 Omicron variant cases in Cayman has more than doubled since Public Health last released figures on Christmas Eve, with confirmed or suspected cases of the new strain standing at 242 as of Wednesday, 29 Dec.

So far, Public Health has confirmed 44 of the cases through genomic sequencing, and the interim chief medical officer Dr. Autilia Newton, in an update, said 198 “probable” Omicron cases had been reported. This includes 139 new cases since 24 Dec.

The latest Omicron cases were among 361 total new cases of COVID-19 reported in Wednesday’s update, with 78 involving travellers and 283 from the community. These were detected among 1,504 PCR tests conducted since 24 Dec., meaning that a quarter of all PCR tests carried out since then returned positive results.

The latest figures also show that five new cases were detected in the Sister Islands over the holiday period, bringing the total active cases there to 10. To date, there have been 130 cases reported on the Sister Islands.

The results bring the number of active cases of COVID-19 in the Cayman Islands to 3,930.

However, the number of people requiring hospitalisation remained low, with four in hospital as of Wednesday.

The total number of people in isolation has not been released, but Public Health has confirmed that 3,825 individuals are isolating as a result of community transmission.

The Health Services Authority vaccination clinic reopened Wednesday, after a five-day break over the holiday period.

As of 24 Dec., the last day before the holiday period when the clinic was open, 58,749 people (83% of the estimated population of 71,106) had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 57,094 (80%) had completed the two-dose course. Also, 16,667 people – representing 23% of the population – had received a booster dose.