THE EDITOR: The increasing numbers of covid19 cases that continue to alarm us have given rise to numerous solutions by various experts and our covid19 team at the Ministry of Health. There is the recurring admonition by all of them to the population to get vaccinated. There are even calls to legislate mandatory vaccination. There is now a plethora of advertisements in the media showing prominent members of the society encouraging the public to get vaccinated. This is good but late by several months.

Vaccine hesitancy is a worldwide phenomenon and is nothing new. It is not surprising and human nature being what it is, it is not going to disappear. Even in respect of childhood vaccinations, where the children have no choice, no country in the world has been able to achieve even close to 100 per cent success. But we must continue to persevere to achieve the highest rate we can achieve. Real-life experience and numerous clinical studies attest incontrovertibly to the efficacy of vaccination in protecting against covid19.

Despite months of lockdown, state of emergency and curfews, we continue to see a steady increase in new cases and deaths. There is no doubt the prevalence of the delta variant is largely responsible for this latest surge and we now await with trepidation the next surge as a result of the omicron strain. We cannot rely solely on vaccination and the recommended hygiene measures to get us out of this crisis.

Alongside vaccination and the recommended measures, another most important containment and control measure is early diagnosis, isolation and quarantine of those affected. Early diagnosis can only be achieved by timely testing and obtaining results of these tests ideally within 24 hours. This then enables isolation and quarantine.

This strategy has been tested and proven in the control of infectious diseases. Failure to get results of tests within 24-48 hours results in infected people, having been tested, going back home/workplace and spreading infection to others. This is where significant resources have to be directed urgently at this time and this requires expansion of public as well as private testing facilities. The present limited testing facilities in the public sector are just not enough. Failure to implement this strategy will undoubtedly lead to the omicron surge.

Some funds for this may be redirected from ongoing urgent efforts to find a facility to store dead bodies. This is not necessary. There is no evidence that the coronavirus (or any virus for that matter) can be spread from dead bodies to the living, especially after wrapped and sealed in body bags. These bodies should be handed over to relatives for timely disposal and open-air cremations must be permitted with the allowed limit of people attending.

BENI N BALKARAN (Dr)

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