Marie Gréta Roy Clément the Minister of Health informs the public that two new variants of Covid-19 have been detected on Haitian territory by the national laboratory network. These are the Delta and MU variants.

If little is known scientifically about the recent MU variant whose global prevalence among the sequenced cases was at the beginning of September 2021 less than 0.1% according to the World Health Organization (WHO) which classified this variant "under surveillance" on the other hand, the Delta variant (originating from India discovered in October 2020) and currently present in 170 countries is well known and should become the dominant variant in the world in the coming months (WHO).

Its "Ro" (transmission factor) is 6.6 compared to 4.5 for the initial coronavirius Alpha. This means that without barrier measures each person infected with the Delta variant can infect 6.5 other people.

The Ministry of Health recalls that unvaccinated people are the most likely to be infected and develop serious forms, while those vaccinated are generally protected.

Given the contagiousness of the Delta variant, the Ministry recommends that the population continue to strictly apply the recommended barrier measures, namely: wearing a mask. ; systematic hand washing; Mandatory temperature measurement before entering public spaces and respecting physical distancing, at least 1.50m distance between each person, especially during face-to-face meetings.

Minister Clément asks all people aged 18 and over, particularly health personnel and people with one or more co-morbid factors, to be vaccinated at the sites set up for this purpose.

List of 68 open sites (and hours) : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34749-icihaiti-covid-19-list-of-68-vaccination-centers-open-in-haiti-and-hours-by-department.html

Stressing that "vaccination remains one of the effective means of pandemic control and prevention of the disease and/or its severe forms," Minister Clément "[...] rely on everyone's sense of responsibility in order to limit, as much as possible, the spread of Covid-19 and its variants in order to reduce their harmful consequences on the Haitian population."

IH/ iciHaiti