Dominica’s health minister, Dr. Irvin McIntyre has warned residents of the island that they must not let their guards down since the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over.
In the past few weeks, positive cases of the virus had dropped significantly, however statistics show it has started rising again.
The last report by the government on May 4 showed there were 204 positive cases in Dominica, a huge jump from the previous report of 56.
“We have to realize it is not over and we have to be vigilant,” Dr. McIntyre stated. “We have to stick to the guidelines that we have been preaching for the past two years, more than two years actually. I want people to remain focused, remain vigilant, excercise all the precautionary measures we have been speaking about, whether is wearing of your masks in public spaces, shared spaces, whether is washing our hands regularly, whether it is distancing as much as possible but we have to be on top of our game in preventing the spread of the virus.”
He said the best way to battle the virus to to return to the basic guidelines that were given.
Dr. McIntyre blamed the rise in positive cases on the relaxation of restrictions.
“We have seen an increase in the positivity rate,” he said. “And that, as I said, is because we relaxed the restrictions, like every country in the world, they are relaxing their restrictions. But when you relax restrictions what has to be augmented is the human behavior, what has to be augmented is we have to take responsibility for our actions.”
