Government’s most recent Covid-19 update on March 23 reported a total of 16 active cases in the territory with no one hospitalised. The number was up slightly from March 18, when government reported 13 cases. Prior to that, on March 2, there were 23 active cases.

Government’s March 23 Covid-19 dashboard showed that 15 of the cases were located on Tortola and one was found in Virgin Gorda. Six cases were found locally, two through contact tracing, four during travel screenings, three during entry screening at “day seven,” and one during entry screening at “day zero,” according to the dashboard.

No further update on case numbers had been provided as of press time yesterday afternoon.

Restrictions

Asked about lifting Covid- 19 restrictions during a press conference on Friday, Premier Andrew Fahie said that the government would “move in the best interests of the territory overall.”

“We have adjusted many measures. As a matter of fact, right now there’s only a few measures that are in place,” Mr. Fahie said. “The Ministry of Health, the health teams, the Health Emergency Operations Centre, and the [chief medical officer] are all the ones that ad- vise us. I would never try to move ahead until I get their full analysis of what is happening out there with that.”

He encouraged people to continue getting vaccinated, and to get boosters. With higher vaccination numbers, he added, restrictions are likely to be lifted sooner.

BA.2 subvariant

Mr. Fahie also spoke briefly about the BA.2 subvariant of omicron, saying that government is monitoring its spread in other countries.

In Europe, countries are battling surges caused by BA.2, and CNN reported that prematurely lifted restrictions may have added to the new spikes in cases. Hong Kong has also been hard hit, with infections recently rising to record highs.

In the United States

According to The New York Times, the BA.2 variant is becoming common in the United States as well, but likely won’t cause a sharp spike in cases the way the delta and original omicron variants did.

Existing vaccines and antibodies from previous infections work against the subvariant, protecting people against severe disease, the Times reported.

The BA.2 subvariant, however, is more severe in children, according to a study carried out in Hong Kong.