The re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for care and pro­tec­tion for ba­bies with mi­cro­cephaly should be in the state’s hands since Gov­ern­ment was late in re­spond­ing to prepa­ra­tions for last year’s Zi­ka mos­qui­to epi­dem­ic and ba­bies with Mi­cro­cephaly were lat­er born, says UNC MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh.

Gopeesingh was speak­ing in yes­ter­day’s 2020 Bud­get de­bate in the Low­er House.

Mi­cro­cephaly, a con­di­tion where a ba­by’s head is small­er than nor­mal, is caused by the Zi­ka virus among oth­er con­di­tions.

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has announced that the World Health Organization (WHO) has removed its Zika virus country classification scheme, which categorized most of the Caribbean territories as having active Zika virus transmission. 
 
This removal by the WHO comes on the heels of data released by CARPHA, giving evidence that the Zika virus transmission in the Caribbean had been interrupted for over 12 months, or was at undetectable levels, thereby posing very little risk to residents and visitors to the region. 

The Caribbean Public Health Agency says that two years after the first outbreak of Zika in the Caribbean, the invasion of this mosquito-borne virus has reduced significantly.

A statement by CARPHA says that while health officials have reported a decrease in the number of suspected and confirmed cases, it is important to note that the virus is still present within our communities.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that four babies were born with Microcephaly this year.

The figure comes in an update on the Zika virus, issued by the Ministry of Health today.

"The Ministry of Health would like to report that the total number of confirmed cases of Zika since the onset of the epidemic on February 11th, 2016 has been 718 cases. Of these, 463 confirmed cases have been noted in pregnancy.