MoH on new case: Trinidad and Tobago surrounded by covid19

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the most recent positive case of covid19 virus in TT should remind citizens that the country is surrounded by the coronavirus, even though the country has been successful in flattening the curve here.

He said the case was identified in one member of a family of three that came in TT last Thursday on an air ambulance from Houston and taken straight to quarantine at the Home of Football in Couva. He said all three were tested on Friday morning and a positive result received late Saturday afternoon.

He said the fact that they had never been allowed to go home meant that no contact tracing was needed and showed the robustness of TT’s response.

CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said the patient is being held at the Home of Football in Couva instead of at a hospital because the case seemed to be a weakly positive one based on discussions with medical experts and the Caribbean Public Health Agency.

He said the patient seemed to be in a convalescent phase with very mild symptoms and could therefore be quarantined at that facility, which was previously used as a quarantine facility. He said, if there was a change in symptoms, the patient would be moved to a hospital.

There are currently 59 people at the Debe/Penal facility, five at the Cascadia Hotel and three at the Home of Football.