CMO: UWI study under way to record coronavirus types in TT

A team of researchers from UWI is working to find and record the different variations of the coronavirus in TT, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Ministry of Health's virtual covid19 update, Parasram said similar research has been done in other parts of the world. He expected the findings to give more information on their transmissibility.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) there are six known types of the coronavirus to date.

"The research is to show that there are subtle variances in the sub-types. However, it has not been shown, at least at this point, that these viruses and the subtypes have significant differences in terms of the way they are transmitted, or their infectivity or the clinical outcomes of different strains to any significant level. So they seem to be minor mutations to the most part."

Parasram said for this study, samples would be sourced from throughout the Caribbean through the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and analysed from both phases one and two of infection.

He also said no testing has been done for research, as staff were still organising the laboratory.