[UPDATED] CORONAVIRUS TEST KITS IN TT

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said testing for the coronavirus can now be done in TT.

He was speaking during a media tour of facilities set up to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and address any cases at the Piarco airport and the Caura hospital.

Deyalsingh explained the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) is the unit assigned under Caricom heads of agreement in 2012, to be the reference lab for the region. He reported the reagents (substances required for detection) to allow testing came in on Tuesday, and Carpha will now have the capacity to test. He added that the ministry also had arrangements in place so that samples could be sent either to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and another Pan American Health Organisation reference lab in South America.

"So we always had the capacity to test overseas, but we now have the capacity to test in TT."

The test for the virus takes about 48 hours.

He said, at Caura there was a facility set up to quarantine people in the unlikely event there was a case of the coronavirus. He explained the facility was initially set up to deal with Ebola and is a four-bedded facility, but since then there have been significant improvements to the traffic flow in and out of it.

Deyalsingh said people may question if four beds are enough for TT. He pointed out the US, which has direct links to China, only has 11 confirmed cases of the coronavirus (the number of cases rose to 12 on Wednesday). Australia, which is both geographically close to China and has direct trade and direct flights, has only has five.

"We are a small country of only 1.3 million people where people coming to here from China have to make two and three stops along the way. When you look at all those factors, four beds – which were set up for Ebola and which we are now using for coronavirus, will be, in our estimation, more than enough."

The minister said the tour organised to show the the safety measures in place for health workers including the “donning area” (where personal protective equipment (PPE) is put on) and the “doffing area” (where PPE is taken off).

"This is a major improvement to what existed before. This was not here before for the protection of our healthcare workers who may have to deal with this."

He explained Caura is for people with a high degree of suspicion or clinical symptoms indicating coronavirus and not low-risk people.

Deyalsingh said more units can be set up, as they are portable, and there are more available.

"If we need to activate more quarantine stations it can be done in a matter of hours."

He thanked the media for the responsible way in which the coronavirus issues were being dealt with.

"I must say a lot of reporting internationally, and some of it locally, should not be geared towards creating panic. There is no need for the global community to panic over this."

He said there are about 27,000 cases globally but 99 per cent were in one location, China, and only one per cent, about 130, are outside of China in about 23 countries; international reports on Friday were 31,161 infections globally and 637 deaths.

"We need to bear that in mind because that is what we use to evaluate our risk."

He also said, to date there are about 570 deaths and, of those deaths, 99.99 per cent are in China and there have only been two deaths outside China (one in Hong Kong and one in The Philippines). He said these stats were to bring a dose of reality to the way the news of the coronavirus is carried.

"So the threat of the coronavirus entering the Caricom territories, as defined by Carpha and PAHO, remains low to remote."

He said, however, because of the virulence of the virus (the ease in which it is transmitted), all countries have to take whatever actions they deem necessary based on their own risk assessment.

"This is why we in TT have a Cabinet-approved position to deal with this."

He said the steps to restrict travel to TT (for 14 days after visiting China) are working.

The media was also shown demonstrations of the mobile thermal scanners, fixed thermal scanner and isolation room at the Piarco airport.

This story was originally published with the title "Health Minister: TT can now test for coronavirus" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said testing for the coronavirus can now be done in TT.

He was speaking during a media tour of facilities meant to help prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and address any cases at the Piarco International Airport and the Caura Hospital.

He explained the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) is the agency assigned under Caricom heads of agreement in 2012 to be the reference lab for the Caricom region. He reported the reagents (substances required for detection) to allow testing came in on Tuesday and Carpha will now have the capacity to test.

He added that the ministry also had arrangements in place so that samples could be sent either to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and another Pan Amercian Health Organisation reference lab in South America.

"So we always had the capacity to test overseas but we now have the capacity to test in TT."

He said at Caura Hospital there was a facility to quarantine people in the unlikely event there was a case of the coronavirus in TT. He explained the facility was initially set up to deal with Ebola and is a four-bed facility but since then there have been significant improvements to the traffic flow in and out of it.

He said people might question if four beds were enough for TT. He pointed out the US, which has direct links to China, only has 11 confirmed cases of the coronavirus (the number of cases rose to 12 on Wednesday) and Australia, which is both geographically close to China and has direct trade and direct flights, only has five.

"We are a small country of only 1.3 million people where people coming here from China have to make two and three stops along the way. When you look at all those factors four beds, which was set up for Ebola and which we are now using for coronavirus will be, in our estimation more than enough."

He explained Caura is for people with a high degree of suspicion or clinical symptoms indicating coronavirus and not low-risk people.

Deyalsingh said more units could be set up as they were portable and more were available.

"If we need to activate more quarantine stations in can be done in a matter of hours."