Jamaica recorded its first positive Omicron case last week Wednesday (December 22) and, since then, the COVID-19 positivity rate has seen an alarming increase. Yet, there have been no reports of any other confirmed Omicron cases on the island.

With no additional reports of Omicron cases, some may be led to believe there are no other positive cases on the island.

After all, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton, during a press briefing called last week to announce the country’s first Omicron case, said it was the ministry’s intention to be as transparent as possible with the information surrounding the matter.

But, while the positivity rate last week Tuesday (December 21) stood at 6.8 per cent, this past Tuesday (December 28) the positivity rate increased by 11.1 percentage points to sit at 17.9 per cent. Yesterday (December 29) the positivity rate jumped to 32.5 per cent.

In addition to this, the Omicron strain is said to be highly contagious and spreads more easily than any of its predecessors. And, since penetrating other parts of the world, it has risen to dominancy in many countries.

Tufton has, of course, warned the public should expect that, at some point, the Omicron variant will also most likely become the most dominant strain in Jamaica.

The island, which is currently enjoying relaxed measures for the holiday season, has had more than its fair share of overpopulated gatherings, fostering an environment for the virus to rapidly spread.

Subsequent to his announcement of the positive case, discovered by the United Kingdom Health Regulation System, Tufton underscored his belief that it is best to assume the new strain is already within the population.

“Persons may have been infected by others in the population and/or this particular individual could have interacted sufficiently while here, to infect or contaminate others. In others words, I think it is best from a … precautionary perspective to conclude that Omicron is here within our population,” Tufton explained.

When it is inevitably confirmed that the Omicron variant has become the dominant strain, Tufton said members of the population should not be surprised.

“We did say in the past, certainly at the last COVID Conversation, that we do expect that the variant strain would be here very soon given the openness of our borders, travel to and from and from destinations here, the variant has become the dominant strain in the population,” he said.

READ: Positivity rate rising rapidly as Omicron threat looms