PAHO notes rising covid19 cases in Trinidad and Tobago

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported on Wednesday Trinidad and Tobago is one of the countries in the region that has been reporting increases in covid19 cases in recent weeks.

Speaking at a regular webinar, PAHO director Dr Carissa Etienne mentioned TT, along with St Martin and the Dominican Republic, among the countries most affected by the virus in the Caribbean.

Etienne said during the past week, the Americas reported 1.1 million new covid19 cases and 25,000 deaths.

Etienne said: “These are rising figures after several weeks with fewer cases reported by the countries of the region. Central America has reported the highest number of deaths and patients in intensive care, while Colombia has registered triple the number of cases in the last week. "

However, Haiti is the country getting the most attention from PAHO at present.

"We are concerned about Haiti, where two variants have been identified and the public health measures imposed by the government have been ignored by the population."

Etienne said in the coming weeks a batch of AstraZeneca vaccines will arrive there, after the Haitian government approved them.

As of Wednesday, 1.6 million vaccines have been supplied to the region through the Covax mechanism, but Etienne acknowledged it is not enough, owing to the current rise in infections.

"Public health measures remain the most effective options for reducing the numbers of cases," she said.

Dr Jarbas Barbosa, deputy director of PAHO, said it is not possible to forecast when the covid19 pandemic will end.

"We don't have enough vaccines yet to control infections, and people need to understand the importance of social distance," he said.

On the 80 million vaccines the United States said it would donate to the other countries of the Americas, Barbosa said during June and July there will be problems with the distribution of vaccines from India, and the best way to face this situation is by using donations from other countries.

Various countries have offered PAHO more than 130 million doses.

"We are in talks with the Covax secretariat to apply the distribution criteria to member states soon as possible and speed up the vaccination process," he said.

Barbosa insisted countries must have a well-developed vaccination plan so that arriving vaccines can be distributed quickly and effectively.

Dr Ciro Ugarte, PAHO's director of emergencies, said the reopening of the tourism sector in the Caribbean for the arrival of cruise ships will be closely monitored.

"It must be remembered until now there are no regulations for the request for vaccination certificates for tourists and this must be analysed in the coming days," said Ugarte.