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According to a release earlier this week, the Ministry of Health and Wellness in St Vincent and the Grenadines reports, “on review of sequencing results for samples sent from St Vincent and the Grenadines to the COVID-19 IMPACT Project Lab through the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), five cases of the Mu variant were detected between July 19 and August 9, 2021.”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The Ministry of Health says in view of the confirmed presence of the Mu variant of interest in the community and the increased risk of infection and subsequent transmission of COVID-19 posed by the growing incidence of variants of concern in persons entering St Vincent and the Grenadines, strict compliance with all protocols and recommendations is strongly recommended.

These include the effective use of masks, physical distancing, hand sanitizing and immunization with available vaccines.

The detection of the Mu variant in St. Vincent has caught the eye of other Caribbean countries. In Jamaica, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says the Ministry is keeping close tabs on the new Mu variant of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

He noted that the country has the new strain under surveillance, as it is imperative that the Jamaican population be protected.

“Now that we know that there is the Mu variant in the Caribbean and it is one of concern, then we will pay particular attention to ensuring that we not only test for Delta and the others but we test for this particular one as well,” Dr. Tufton outlined.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on August 30, 2021, named the variant B.1.621 – Mu, a variant of interest.