The country has recorded a surge of COVID-19 cases amid global fears of the Omicron variant.
Though the new variant has not been confirmed in the country, the Health ministry data shows that the positivity rate grew from one per cent to 6.5 per cent.
The high rate was posted after months of a below 5 per cent rate that led to the lifting of the night curfew and other restrictions.
The Ministry of Health has raised concerns over increased COVID-19 cases in the country stating that the rise might be a sign that the containment measures in place have to be adhered to.
“We have noticed the curve going up in the past one week from one per cent to 6.5 per cent yesterday. So that is a warning sign to us so that we can go back to the drawing board to ensure that we continue to adhere to the public health social measures but more importantly that all who are eligible get vaccinated,” Acting Director General at the Ministry of Health Patrick Amoth said.
Additionally, he urged those who are unvaccinated to get their jab since science has proven that vaccination offers protection.
The latest data show that 331 more people had tested positive from the virus, increasing the caseload in the country to 256,815.
While 8.2 million people have been vaccinated by mid November against a target 10 million by December.
However, study shows that all three U.S.-authorized COVID-19 vaccines appear to be significantly less protective against the newly-detected Omicron variant of the coronavirus in laboratory testing, but a booster dose likely restores most of the protection.
The study from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard and MIT that has not yet been peer reviewed tested blood from people who received the Moderna (MRNA.O), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech vaccines against a pseudovirus engineered to resemble the Omicron variant.
The researchers found “low to absent” antibody neutralization of the variant from the regular regimens of all three vaccines – two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines or one of J&J’s single-dose vaccine.
The scientists also suggested that Omicron is more infectious than previous variants of concern, including about twice as transmissible as the currently dominant Delta variant, which may soon be overtaken by Omicron.