The Anguilla Tourist Board is pleased to announce that the World Health Organization (WHO) has removed its ZIKA virus country classification scheme, which categorized most of the Caribbean territories, including Anguilla, as areas having active ZIKA virus transmission.
This removal by the WHO comes on the heels of data released by the Caribbean Public Health Agency, (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. This was matched by data shared with CARPHA by Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, which showed that no ZIKA had been detected for over 12 months in travelers returning from the Caribbean to their countries.
This WHO decision sets the stage for Anguilla to be reclassified by the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) to a Category 3 “Area of Interrupted Transmission”. The last confirmed case in Anguilla was reported in February 2017, which reflects the island’s successful, ongoing surveillance, education and vector control activities, initiated and encouraged since the outbreak was first reported some three years ago.