Minister: Help needed to understand new Balandra cases

The Ministry of Health may seek the assistance of international partners in understanding the apparent change in behaviour of the coronavirus, in light of three recent infections at the Balandra facility.

On Sunday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram described the three most recent infections as “highly unusual” as they were only detected by tests well after the 14-day incubation period.

Speaking at a media conference on Monday, Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh said, as the government seeks to understand the virus, it would reach out to partners in the US and Canada.

He also cautioned the public that staying at home was the best defence against infection due to the relatively new and unknown nature of the coronavirus.

“What we don’t know about this virus is probably more than what we know. It’s an evolving situation and that is why out of an abundance of we have instituted the protocols to deal with this.

“We continue to watch the evolving epidemiology, we have three cases that we probably have to seek international assistance with, to see what their experiences are and that is why the message still has to be to stay home because there is so much that we don’t know.”

Deyalsingh also said government was preparing for a second wave of infections which could possibly increase the number of cases at any given time.

He said while he could not estimate the scale or period for the second wave of infections, it was crucial that government prepare for any possible increases.

“From today we start to plan for our second wave. The size of the second wave is entirely dependent on human behaviour, it’s in society’s hands now.

“Will the second wave be bigger or will it be smaller? The Prime Minister, the cabinet, the Ministry of Health, we have done our part and continue to do so.”

As of Monday, it has been one month since TT recorded its first case of the coronavirus with 113 infections thus far with eight deaths and 16 people discharged.