The news was made public by Health Minister Carvin Malone who also announced last Friday that the BVI’s count of active COVID cases had surpassed the 1000-person mark once again. It now stands at a staggering 1,049 cases.

“We are challenged, we are challenged because 109 of our healthcare professionals have been diagnosed as (COVID-19) positive,” Malone said.

Omicron variant confirmed in BVI

The minister also disclosed that samples sent to the Trinidad & Tobago-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) have returned positive tests for the Omicron variant of the virus.

With the fast-spreading nature of the omicron variant, the Malone said that almost no business has been left unaffected in some way by the spread of the virus.

He explained that this means that there will be effects on business continuity in the territory.

Restrictions added for crowd sizes

The minister also disclosed that Cabinet will meet again tomorrow, Tuesday, January 11, to further examine proposals made to curb the spread of the virus.

“What we’ve done is that we have made measures to lessen the crowd sizes,” Minister Malone stated.

He said crowd sizes have now been restricted to 100 persons but said this is still with the provision that interior spaces can only allow one person for every nine square-feet or for persons to be six feet apart from each other.

Any entity or activity that anticipates crowd sizes above 100 persons should apply to the Ministry of Health for permission to facilitate this, he advised.

Minister Malone also said officials have so far declined to implement any new curfews but will continue to review this as they monitor cases.

He said the government is confident that once persons were to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols in place, then there would be no need for curfews.

“We have to do this without having the law as your only guide, without having death as your only motivation,” Minister Malone said.