[UPDATED] CMO: 20,000 returning nationals must stay home

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram speaks at a post-cabinet media briefing at Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's on Monday. - ANGELO MARCELLE
Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram speaks at a post-cabinet media briefing at Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's on Monday. - ANGELO MARCELLE

CHIEF Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said the almost 20,000 nationals who returned to this country in the past two weeks need to remain at home to prevent a spike in covid19 infections.

He was speaking at a media conference held at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain.

He reported that 19,852 people came to Trinidad via the airports in the past 14 days which represented 0.015 per cent of the population.

"If you look at the way we have been testing and you check that weight you are looking at about a 1,000 people (possibly infected)."

He said if these people do not self-isolate for 14 days until they present with symptoms then the country would have a completely different scenario.

"So we are looking at those roughly 20,000 people. We have two choices. If they stay at home and do exactly what they supposed to do the scenario will be one that we can manage and we can cope. If the 19,000 people go out and they develop symptoms and mingle with the population, all of us will be infected and we will see the spike which we trying to avoid happen overnight. And which has happened in Italy, has happened in China, is happening in the US. So what we asking is those 20,000 people is stay at home. If you have contact – stay at home."

Parasram reported TT's first case from Switzerland was doing really well. He explained the Word Health Organisation guideline for discharging someone from a medical institution after testing positive was seven days without any symptoms. If the test at seven days and then 24 hours later are both negative the patient can be discharged.

"So we are going to test the first case very soon hopefully getting his first negative. If we get the second one we can discharge him."

He reported that 311 people were tested and 51 tested positive.

The number later increased to 52 as Tobago recorded its first case.

Parasram pointed out four days ago there were about 150 people tested and that had doubled.

"So our testing has scaled up significantly."

He said it was good that of the first 150 they only picked up two additional people.

"It gives us hope that we are in a good place so far.

Of the 51 that tested positive there were 41 from a cruise in Guadeloupe and ten other people who travelled in the recent past. Initially 68 people arrived from the cruise and then one woman returned on a prior flight, came to TT and directly from port health went via ambulance to Caura Hospital. That woman tested positive while another woman who came with her tested negative, taking the number on the cruise to 70.

He reported that Sunday the authorities picked up an additional three people from the cruise ship who were taken to Caura, taking the number of people form the cruise ship up to 73 which was the number reported initially.

"So they will be tested as symptoms arise."

On the clinical status of the patients he said out of the 51 there were 47 at Couva. He reported that there is one patient who is ICU ventilated and has been stable for a number of days and five people in the high dependency unit, meaning they require more support than a regular ward and would need oxygen but not ventilation at this time. There were also 41 ambulatory patients meaning they are walking around with mild symptoms.

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

CHIEF Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said the almost 20,000 nationals who returned to this country in the past two weeks need to remain at home to prevent a spike in covid19 infections.

He was speaking at a media conference held at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain.

He reported that 19,852 people came to Trinidad through the airports in the past 14 days which represented 0.015 per cent of the population.

"If you look at the way we have been testing and you check that weight you are looking at about a 1,000 people (possibly infected)."

He said if these people do not self-isolate for 14 days until they present with symptoms then the country would have a completely different scenario.

"So we are looking at those roughly 20,000 people. We have two choices. If they stay at home and do exactly what they supposed to do the scenario will be one that we can manage and we can cope. If the 19,000 people go out and they develop symptoms and mingle with the population, all of us will be infected and we will see the spike which we trying to avoid happen overnight. And which has happened in Italy, has happened in China, is happening in the US. So what we asking is those 20,000 people is stay at home. If you have contact – stay at home."

Parasram reported TT's first case from Switzerland was doing really well. He explained the Word Health Organisation guideline for discharging someone from a medical institution after testing positive was seven days without any symptoms. If the test at seven days and then 24 hours later are both negative the patient can be discharged.

"So we are going to test the first case very soon hopefully getting his first negative. If we get the second one we can discharge him."

He reported that 311 people were tested and 51 tested positive.

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"[UPDATED] CMO: 20,000 returning nationals must stay home"

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