[UPDATED] Birthday parties lead to one covid19 death, 11 cases in Tobago

Three birthday parties held in Tobago resulted in 11 covid19 cases and one death owing to the virus, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said on Saturday.

“Tobago is seeing, in our view, a disturbing and significant upsurge in cases. And the contact tracing has revealed a very disturbing series of events that took place in Tobago with the help of people from Trinidad,” he said during the Health Ministry's virtual press conference.

He said there were birthday parties in Tobago on November 22, November 28, and December 8 which led to five covid19 cases and one death, five more cases, and one covid19 case respectively.

A previous Newsday article stated that Tobago's Division of Health, Wellness, and Family Development recorded seven new covid19 cases on December 10, bringing the total number of cases on the island to 135.

At that point, the division recorded two deaths and 28 active cases at Tobago's covid19 facility at the old Scarborough Hospital, Fort Street in Scarborough.

Less than a month ago, on November 16, the division reported there had been no new cases in Tobago for 20 days. Now, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said Tobago accounted for 9.4 per cent of the active cases in the country.

“Tobago normally accounts for anywhere between one and two per cent, sometimes even less. We see that as a significant increase for Tobago,” he said.

Parasram said the country took preventative measures at air and sea bridges including thermal scanning, questioners, and available health care workers.

“If you have signs and symptoms you get tested quickly. You won’t go on to spread to anyone else,” he said.

In addition, he said on December 1, hotels and guest houses agreed to participate in a virtual seminar, a tourism and health programme hosted by the Caribbean Public Health Agency.

“What it did is basically training members of that industry, the hospitality industry, to be aware of the signs and symptoms of the disease and to have a reporting framework so that if persons in their establishments develop signs and symptoms they will be reported to the office of the CMO as well as the CMOH in Tobago as quickly as possible so we could have our sampling done and then we can know if we are dealing with covid19 or something else.”

He expressed the hope that some of the larger establishments would take the programme and advised people to let hotel staff know if they had symptoms.

Deyalsingh added that the government would do what it could to keep people safe but people had to take responsibility for their actions.

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

HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said three birthday parties held in Tobago resulted in 11 covid19 cases and one death owing to the virus.

He announced this during the Health Ministry's virtual press conference on Saturday morning.

"Tobago is seeing, in our view, a disturbing and significant upsurge in cases. And the contact tracing has revealed a very disturbing series of events that took place in Tobago with the held of people from Trinidad."

He said there were birthday parties in Tobago on November 22 which led to five covid19 cases and one death.

On November 28, there was another birthday party leading to five more cases, and another on December 8 which led to one covid19 case.

"We have been advising the population not to have gatherings out of your immediate family.

"We are concerned about what is happening in Tobago. We stand ready to support the Tobago Regional Health Authority."