Covid19 variants not a concern for Trinidad and Tobago

Professor of molecular genetics and virology Christine Carrington has said while there are several variants of covid19 under investigation, none of them are cause for concern in Trinidad and Tobago now.

Carrington was speaking at the Ministry of Health’s virtual press conference on Monday.

She said in the year since covid19 became a global pandemic, one of the concerns that has arisen is the number of variants of the virus that have surfaced. She said the B117 variant, otherwise known as the United Kingdom (UK) variant, has been detected so far in seven Caribbean countries and caused rapid community spread.

On January 21, the Ministry of Health confirmed the first covid19 variant of concern (UK) case. Carrington said this case, however, was in a controlled, quarantined environment and did not lead to community spread as in the other regional cases.

“The (covid19) protocols are doing (their) job,” she said.

Other variants of concern include the B1351 (South African) and the P1 (Brazilian).

She said while there have not been any reported cases of the South African variant to date in the Caribbean, the ministry did detect the Brazilian variant. The sample was taken from a passenger on a boat, who was not allowed to disembark owing to border and quarantine restrictions.

She said there are several other variants under investigation or of interest worldwide because they have some of the mutations found in the variants of concern.