The Caribbean Pub­lic Health Agency (CARPHA) said yes­ter­day that Mem­ber States should con­tin­ue to re­main on high alert for the im­por­ta­tion of vi­ral or oth­er in­fec­tions and mon­i­tor in coun­try syn­dromic sur­veil­lance sys­tems for in­creas­es in fever and rash ill­ness­es.

Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor of the agency, Dr Joy St John, said in a state­ment yes­ter­day, “We know that dis­eases do not recog­nise bor­ders, and in­ter­na­tion­al trav­el makes us aware that no bor­ders are se­cure from the threat of dis­eases, es­pe­cial­ly in­fec­tious ones.

“At this time, Mem­ber States are in var­i­ous stages of eas­ing of re­stric­tions for COVID-19 which se­vere­ly im­pact­ed the re­gion.”

St John al­so said, “CARPHA is mon­i­tor­ing the spread of the mon­key­pox virus—look­ing at pre­ven­tion and con­trol. We have al­so com­menced test­ing for the mon­key­pox virus.

“At this time, CARPHA does not rec­om­mend re­stric­tions on en­try of per­sons from any coun­try. Work­ing along­side our Mem­ber States, we will sup­port ac­tiv­i­ties and ed­u­cate the pub­lic to pro­tect the health of all with­in their bor­ders”