(GIS) The Cayman Islands has been removed from an advisory list, which warns travellers that there is a risk of local transmission of the Zika virus. The jurisdiction was placed on the U.S-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) list last year when Grand Cayman reported local transmission of the virus.
There have been no locally transmitted cases of Zika this year and just one imported case in early February.
The Cayman Islands Public Health Department has been lobbying to be removed from the list for the last several months and it was confirmed yesterday (Friday, 28 July 2017) that this had been done.
“This is very good news because it means that visitors can come and not worry about contracting the virus,” said Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Samuel Williams-Rodriguez. “Previously, we regularly had people ringing up from overseas who wanted to visit, but after seeing us on the CDC list they were worried that they might contract the virus. This was particularly true of people who were pregnant or wanted to become pregnant.”
Zika is linked to microcephaly, a condition in which a baby is born with a deformed head, and other neurological disorders.