Ministry of Health continues appeal for Belizeans to get their COVID shots

Continue to get tested and take all your shots… that’s what the Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to advise as there has been an uptick in COVID-19 cases. The good news is that those who test positive do not require hospitalization. This morning, Love News caught up with the Director of Public Health and Wellness, Dr. Melissa Diaz for an update. She used the opportunity to pay a particular focus on protecting vulnerable populations, which include our golden citizens, those who have comorbidities and those who live with HIV/AIDS. 

Dr. Melissa Dias, Director, Public Health and Wellness, Ministry of Health and Wellness: “We are seeing a slightly increased amount in terms of the number of cases but an important aspect of this and why it’s slightly different than before is that we’re not seeing hospitalizations as we did prior and we’re not seeing the clinics being bombarded by ill persons. So we do know that persons who get tested test positive but many people are exhibiting mild or moderate symptoms which generally the most common symptoms or the more common symptoms that we’re hearing is upper respiratory tract infections, a sore throat, headache, exhaustion or tiredness in the body which usually at this point is lasting about two to three days. Some people might extend a little bit more but the recovery is quite good. So what we’re asking is for us to remain conscious, for us to ensure that we protect our community because at this point personal responsibility and community responsibility they’re both very important. If you know that you’re vulnerable, if you know that you do have diabetes, high blood pressure, if you’re HIV positive, if you’re pregnant these are things that your immune system may be at risk and we’re asking you to protect yourself. Or if you have an elderly family member at that point especially if you do have a headache, a cold, a cough wear your mask because your body might be able to fight it because you might have good defenses but the elderly person may not. As you know especially persons 65 and older the immune system might not be as strong and we really do need to protect our elderly in order for us to make sure that we don’t have an increase in hospitalizations.”