Residents Still Catching COVID; Stay Cautious

Kevin Bernard

Around this time last year, the COVID-19 pandemic had been raging, as the country was going through yet another wave with the delta variant being the most active. There were also daily reports coming out of the Ministry of Health and Wellness on the casualties, as well as active cases. Fast track to now, the numbers have been down, restrictions lifted and mass events are being held almost every other weekend. So is COVID a thing of the past for Belize? Health and Wellness Minister Kevin Bernard says residents should still remain cautious.

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness

“I would love to see an end to COVID, but COVID still exists. We can’t run from the fact that we do have that still happening. Yes, numbers have been very low, but at the end of the day it all depends on persons going to get tested. We know that the symptoms at this point in time have been very mild, but we can’t shy away. But countrywide, worldwide, you are seeing a drop in the cases globally.  In Belize, luckily, our active cases are in the double digits and we want to keep it that way and in fact we would really want to see an end to this pandemic which had caused loss of life and locked us out for two years and has created and impounded the same problems that we are talking about right now. So while COVID has been an issue, we have to focus on many other things in the Ministry of Health – all these NCDs that are affecting our people; those are our focus as well. So I cannot say that COVID is done; COVID is still around. Countries around the world are still popping up twenty thousand cases a day in some cases; we are lucky to have a very controlled number. And again, like I said, you only will know if people are really going out to test – that is not the case at this time.”