Rowley: Don't let guard down on covid19

THE Prime Minister has cautioned the population not to let its guard down against the covid19 virus in 2023. He sounded this warning in his New Year's message to the nation.

Dr Rowley said, "It is really to the credit of us all that, so far, we have been able to overcome the worst of the covid19 pandemic."

But as TT and the rest of the world prepares to enter 2023, Rowley said TT must "keep our eyes on the external confirmations that it (covid19 pandemic) is not over.

He said international news reports about the recent surge of new cases in China and the reported increase in hospitalisation in the United States, are evidence of this.

A Reuters report on December 29 said that 9,000 people were dying daily in China from covid19. China has also lifted travel restrictions on people entering or leaving it, despite increasing covid19 cases.

"Even more concerning is that some travel restrictions have begun to be reintroduced in some parts of the world."

Rowley said, "Beginning next week, the Government plans to ramp up its booster vaccination campaign, largely targeting the elderly and most vulnerable as well as the unvaccinated."

The Government will continue to be guided by the advice of its public health professionals and places its confidence "in the level of induced and natural immunity which currently resides in the general population."

Rowley said, "This should serve us in good stead barring the emergence of any new and more dangerous strains of the lingering virus."

Against the background of the coming of the Carnival season, Rowley said, "I implore each and every one of you to be ever mindful of the threat posed by the virus as we continue to do whatever is deemed necessary to minimise spread and personal exposure."

Rowley said the covid experience has shown us “a new face” of the globe.

The world is becoming smaller, particularly when viewed through the lens of the advances in 21st-century technology, international trade, and transnational relations.

He said, "It is my hope that in 2023 we will make that extra effort to cultivate that feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood among us, with the knowledge that we all belong to one big human family; to do otherwise is to never overcome our socio-economic challenges and face up to the larger dangers of our very human existence."

Rowley added that veteran calypsonian Black Stalin, who died last week, invited us to believe that “we can make it if we try.”