The Ministry of Health in St Kitts and Nevis says it continues to maintain its robust respiratory surveillance activities to monitor and detect any increase in respiratory infections in the country.
The assurance comes following the Pan American Health Organisation’s (PAHO) call for Member States to maintain surveillance in light of elevated levels of acute respiratory diseases being recorded in the Region of the Americas driven by SARS-CoV-2, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.
In St Kitts and Nevis, the emergency room physicians on both islands are currently evaluating and investigating all patients who present with fever and respiratory symptoms including headache, coughing, sore throat, loss of sense of taste or smell, shortness of breath, joint pains, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
The Ministry of Health notes SARS Co-V-2 is now endemic and as a society, Kittitians must learn to live with this type of respiratory tract illness.
In December 2023, no laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported. However, between January 1 to 12, 2024, the MOH reported only seven laboratory-confirmed cases of SARS CoV-2 or COVID-19, one of which was imported whereby the patient was airlifted shortly after hospitalisation.
The Ministry of Health says the steady increase in respiratory illness activity is a common annual trend which it is continuously monitoring.
It notes this trend is fuelled by the flu season, the high influx of travellers and the mass gatherings during the Christmas season and carnival celebrations.
Respiratory illness activity usually peaks between January and March of each year.
The public is urged to exercise vigilance at this time and adhere to the measures proven to prevent respiratory tract illness.
