Deyalsingh: Health Ministry continues to build capacity to deal with covid19

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said his ministry continues to build additional capacity to combat the second and third waves of the covid19 pandemic.

He said the Arima facility will be operational by Friday. It will house 94 cases in parallel with Caura, for suspect and paediatric cases, and for people on dialysis.

At Tuesday’s daily covid19 press briefing, Deyalsingh said the Augustus Long hospital and hostel will have 50 beds for acute and critical cases, parallel with Couva.

He said four ventilators will be sent to Tobago on Wednesday, to add to their existing five unused ventilators. He said the promised ventilators being imported by government are still in Panama, so these four will be taken from Trinidad’s supply.

Deyalsingh said there were 21 people at the Brooklyn, Sangre Grande step-down facility. Twenty-three people were transferred to the Home of Football in Balmain, Couva. He thanked the communities for accepting this and thanked the healthcare workers who were living with the recovering patients.

The 33 Trinidad and Tobago nationals returning from Barbados on Tuesday are to be quarantined at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua. They will be tested before leaving Barbados. Medical personnel in TT will also do a medical assessment when they arrive in Trinidad.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said 1380 tests had been sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), with 1,150 unique tests and 220 repeated tests to date. The number of positive cases remained steady at 114, with 26 discharges and eight deaths.