CMO, CARPHA: Vigilance needed to protect against variants

CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said one case of the Brazil covid19 variant was detected in TT in a crewman of a sea vessel. He said the crewman did not disembark and eventually recovered on the vessel. He said, of 150 samples tested at the University of the West Indies, only two variants were detected, the other being the UK variant in a repatriated person.

He said the Health Ministry continued to be concerned about variants coming into the country, especially with the introduction of vaccines, as they can affect the efficacy of the vaccine.

Caribbean Public Health Laboratory assistant director Dr Lisa Indar said the Caribbean countries which were doing best in terms of covid19 numbers while having their borders open were the ones who insisted on having a negative PCR test as well as stringent measures for both tourists and locals.

“Screening, asking if the traveller had been in contact with a positive case, adherence to wearing masks, social distancing, proper hand hygiene, avoiding contact, etc. What we have noticed in countries where it has worked well is where the population is also carrying that out.

"We’ve also been seeing an increase in community spread as borders open, caused by community action, so it has to be a joint effort in the community to follow the public health measures while the government does its testing, contact tracing, and stringent measures for entry into the country.”

Indar said vigilance was needed by all until the vaccines were proved to stop transmission fully, especially now in light of some variants being more transmissible and others causing more fatalities.

Parasram said County Caroni and County Victoria continued to lead the pack in terms of the number of active cases. He gave a breakdown on the distribution of the remaining active cases.

“St George West" one (1.3 per cent)  these are cases in home isolation

St George Central" four (5.3 per cent)

St George East: (8.0 per cent)

St Andrew/St David: two (2.7 per cent)

Zero in Nariva/Mayaro and Tobago

St Patrick" eight (10.7 per cent)

And then the bulk of active cases are housed between County Caroni and County Victoria with 28 (37.3 per cent) and 26 (34.7 per cent) respectively.”

Parasram said, of those in home isolation, 5.7 per cent have recovered, 10.2 per cent have been transferred to mostly step-down facilities, as well as Couva Hospital, symptomatic cases are 23.9 per cent, and asymptomatic people are 60.2 per cent.

Those with comorbidities were 60.8 per cent and those without were 39.2 per cent.

The comorbidity breakdown included diabetes at 26.5 per cent, hypertension 20.6 per cent, heart/cardiovascular disease 8.8 per cent, immune deficiency 5.9 per cent, asthma 17.6 per cent, other 17.6 per cent, and pregnant patients (which is not a co-morbid state but one where people are at an increased risk of complications of covid19), 2.9 per cent.

Parasram said the positivity rate – in terms of the tests completed versus the number of people testing positive – had dropped drastically, from eight per cent two months ago to two-three per cent over the past couple weeks.

He said testing continued to take place among people who presented at facilities as well as primary contacts of people who tested positive. An extension of testing to secondary and tertiary contacts was being considered to catch all possible cases.

Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said, “We want to encourage the co-operation the population is expected to give with contact tracing."

Parasram said there were no plans to roll back restrictions despite the continued rolling average of three cases per day. He said recommendations would be made to the Prime Minister and the Health Minister who would then make any further decisions.

He said, since schools were reopened, there had been only one positive case detected in the school system.

“It means the numbers we are seeing, the viral level in TT seems to be sufficiently low that we are able to maintain that sort of scenario happening and that the public health measures present in the schools have, for the most part, been adhered to in terms of mask wearing and all the other measures put in place.

"I think it’s a successful reopening in terms of that phase of schools. We will take it one stage at a time, make our recommendations to the PM, and then it will be up to him and the education minister with regard to proceeding.”

Responding to a question about vaccine allocations to Tobago when the first tranche arrives, Parasram said the ministry would use similar formulas and apply them across the board for both islands.

“There will be collaboration with the THA at all stages as well as my counterpart Dr Hoyte to ensure there is equity. We will take into consideration the smaller size of the island, the way business is transacted and the movement in the island as well when we do the allocation eventually, but that will have to be a discussion between the THA and the MoH before we can determine an actual amount.”