BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE notorious Chikungunya virus has struck again. This time its victim is well-known former calypsonian now Soca singer Fantastic Tunda, who is uncertain of his appearance at the upcoming Music Festival.
When contacted by SKNVibes Entertainment today (Jun. 24), Fantastic Tunda explained that there is a 40/60 chance of him performing at the St. Kitts Music Festival as he had earlier this week contracted the Chikungunya virus and was at the time seeking medical treatment.
Tunda was scheduled to perform on Thursday night along with American-born Puerto Rican Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning Merengue singer Elvis Crespo, calypsonian Winston ‘Explainer’ Henry out of Trinidad and Tobago, Soca Queen Destra Garcia also from the twin-island republic, Gamal ‘Skinny Fabulus’ Doyle out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Soca King Machel Montano.
A few weeks ago, 21 cases of this viral disease were confirmed in St. Kitts and Nevis. However, in a report published on Wednesday (Jun. 13) by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) on the health situation in the Latin American and Caribbean region, the Dominican Republic has the highest number of suspected cases with a total of 77 320 and is followed by Guadeloupe with 35 000 suspected cases and Martinique, also with 35 000 suspected cases.
The Chikungunya virus is an arthropod-borne virus that is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes to humans.
According to PAHO, the virus could remain in a person’s system for about one week.
