More than 14,000 screened for coronavirus

HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said more than 14,000 people have been screened at the Piarco International Airport for the coronavirus.

He was responding to a question in the Senate on Tuesday.

He said Government recognised the threat of the coronavirus, whilst remote to TT needed to be treated with the utmost urgency and care. He reported that a number of procedures were instituted last week at Piarco International Airport including thermal screening for all flights coming in from major ports (North America, Panama, and the UK)where the ministry believes people from China could be connecting.

"To date 194 flights have been screened – a total of 14,380 passengers and crew," Deyalsingh said.

He said a second measure is fixed thermal screening at the western and eastern ends of the airport. He also disclosed that in the arrival hall on the electronic billboards there are messages alerting people that if they are coming from certain parts of the world and they develop a fever which may be suspected of coronavirus, what procedures should be followed.

He added the procedures implemented by the Government were not recommended by either Pan American Health Organisation or the World Health Organisation.

Deyalsingh said there are also standard operating procedures at Piarco and at the ANR Robinson International Airport to treat with people who present with a fever that is a body temperature above 37.2 degrees.

"We as a country, in recognising how serious this issue is, have to balance between panic and caution. Because the last thing we want is a panicked population. The chances of coronavirus reaching TT, whilst remote, needs to be treated seriously and we are doing just that."

He said that international passengers from China are also scanned in China, when they are leaving China and also at the airports where they are getting their connecting flights such as JFK in New York, O'Hare in Chicago or Seattle.

"So there are multi-layers of thermal screenings being done for passengers originating from China. We are just the last screening when they arrive in TT."

He reiterated that the screening is not foolproof as people could be asymptomatic (not presenting any symptoms) and therefore an alert and educated public is the last line of defence.

Opposition Senator Wade Mark asked if there was any quarantine mechanism at the airports and Deyalsingh explained that at airports a suspected case would be isolated and then taken to be quarantined in a medical facility.

Opposition Senator Sean Sobers had also posed an urgent question on screening and quarantine at Point Lisas, Chaguaramas, King's Wharf and Cedros ports. Deyalsingh said there were similar screenings at the ports as the airport and reported there were two hand-held machines at Point Lisas, two to three at Chaguaramas and Port of Spain, and one each at Cedros and King's Wharf.

He stressed the major point of concern was the port of Port of Spain where cruise liners come in. He said captains now have to fill out a declaration and report any fevers or illness, and if this is done incorrectly or untruthfully that is a criminal offence and they can be jailed. He said the ministry has been in contact with the local agents of all the cruise liners and, with the originating port for cruise ships coming into Trinidad is typically Miami or Puerto Rico, and the pre-boarding questionnaire to be applied to all cruise passengers coming down into the Caribbean and ending up in Trinidad has been ramped up.

Deyalsingh said, however, the chances of the coronavirus coming in through a cruise ship is even more remote as most cruises do not typically have people who started in China. He also assured that health workers have adequate personal protective equipment including sufficient quantities of the N95 mask which traps 95 per cent of all pathogens wider than three microns in diameter.

The recent outbreak of the coronavirus, which causes respiratory infections, originated in China and has killed 106 people and infected more than 4,500.