by Carlena Knight
Although active Covid cases have surpassed 200, government still has “no immediate intent to increase the level of mandates” at this time.
Information Minister Melford Nicholas told yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing that they are continuing to monitor the situation before making any such announcement.
“No, we will not implement any mandates because we just don’t know what could be the outcome for any additional variant,” he explained.
“What we can say: we are looking at this space and provided that the hospitalisations are kept low and the rate of severity of infections are not a bother, then, this is what we have to do, we have to live with Covid and we did take that policy position in October of last year when we removed the state of emergency in December.
“So, we are pretty clear, we have to live with Covid and we have to manage the outcome,” Nicholas said.
He encouraged residents to stay safe by taking the necessary precautions.
“I want to urge the public and those persons who are not yet vaccinated to do so, particularly if you are living an active social life and you do intend to participate in the many fetes and the Carnival festivities to come.
“Do protect yourself and protect your family because you just never know when, given the other health conditions that you may be carrying, that you may fall upon misfortune. So, we would encourage persons to do that,” he added.
The most recent dashboard revealed 80 new Covid infections in Antigua and Barbuda, bringing the total number of active cases to 213.
Three of those cases are presently hospitalised, one with severe symptoms and two mild.