The Ministry of Health, Wellness and New Health Investment held a press briefing on Wednesday to update the general public on the Coronavirus.
According to Hon. Irving McIntyre, “The Ministry of Health continues to implement its risk communication strategy as the Ministry monitors the development of the new strain of 2019 novel Corona virus.”
As it relates to how contagious the virus is, the Minister said that the scientific term used is R0(pronounced R naught) and Coronavirus would fall between Ebola and SARS on a scale where Measles was 18, Mumps 10, HIV and SARS 4, and Ebola 2. He said that relative to Measles and Mumps, the novel Coronavirus is not the most contagious virus however we should take precaution.
According to the Minister, there is a potential risk for the Coronavirus to spread in Dominica because there are Dominican students studying in Wuhan city where the virus was first detected as well as there is a high presence of Chinese immigrant workers who travel back and forth from Dominica to China.
The Ministry of Health is in contact with the International community (WHO, PAHO, CARPHA, CDC) and based on the WHO risk calculation, the risk is at medium to low for the Caribbean region. Nonetheless, Dominica has a National Pandemic Influenza Plan which will be adjusted where necessary as new information emerges.The Ministry has advised that students in China remain there as this is considered the safest option at present. The Ministry is in touch with the students in the Wuhan province on a daily basis and each student was sent additional funds to assist in the purchase of water and other essentials. The students are in good spirits and understand fully the risks involved in leaving.
Further, the Minister said that Dominican nationals are safe to date and there is no need for panic. The Government of the Peoples Republic of China has given the assurance that this pandemic will be brought under control within a few weeks.
Dominica’s Health Plan of Action has been in effect and the following has been done.
Surveillance: an initial alert was sent to all Health care professionals in all districts; ongoing training; development and dissemination of reporting tools; development of a database; conduct of active surveillance at heath facilities and various ports of entry; reactivation of events surveillance; liaise with other ministries including Agriculture and keep monitoring developments through international bodies.
The plan also extends to the ports of entry and included placing trained personnel there and identifying possible areas to be used as isolation rooms among other measures. There will also be further training done and a review of the ICU personnel capacity.
The Ministry of Health will continue to implement aspects of the plan throughout the coming weeks.
