CMO: Trinidad and Tobago screening for mu variant of covid19

CHIEF Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram said Trinidad and Tobago's covid19 surveillance includes screening people entering TT for the new mu variant of covid19.

He made this statement at the virtual health news conference on Wednesday.

He also said out of 14,222 fully vaccinated people who have entered TT since the borders reopened on July 17, only two have tested covid19-positive. They were later confirmed as having the delta covid19 variant.

Parasram said all protocols were followed with respect to these two patients to prevent any risk of spread of the virus.

On Tuesday, St Vincent and the Grenadines became the first Caribbean country to report a mu variant case in the region. In a statement, St Vincent's National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) confirmed presence of five mu variant cases in SVG and the increased risk of infection and the growing incidence of variants of concern in people entering the country required strict compliance with all covid19 protocols and immunisation with available vaccines.

Parasrasm said, "When we send a sample to the University (of the West Indies) lab via CARPHA (Caribbean Public Health Agency) or TPHL (Trinidad Public Health Laboratory) we don't specify which variant of concern we are looking at."

He said testing being done will be "for any variant of concern or variant of interest based on their sequencing and they respond to us, with what they find.

"So it's not specific, and they have been testing, as far as I'm aware, for the new variants of interest and concern."

The mu variant was added to the World Health Organization's (WHO) watchlist on August 30 after it was detected in 39 countries and found to possess a cluster of mutations that may make it less susceptible to the immune protection many have acquired. The WHO said the mu variant “has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape.”

This variant was first identified in Colombia in January. While it makes up less than 0.1 per cent of covid infections globally, it may be gaining ground in Colombia and Ecuador, where it accounts for 39 and 13 per cent of covid cases respectively. The WHO has not determined whether the mu variant could be more transmissible than the delta variant, the dominant covid19 variant globally at this time.

On the 14,222 fully vaccinated people who have entered TT since its borders were reopened on July 17, Parasram said they all would have had a negative PCR test before coming in. He said it has been shown over the course of the covid19 pandemic that this "significantly reduces your risk, even when you come in of having covid19 or developing (covid19) later on."

Parasram said there had been a substantial decrease in the number of covid19-positive cases being detected since that policy was introduced a few months ago.

Before that, he continued, "We would have had almost as much as ten per cent of people coming in via repatriation being picked up (with covid19), with that in place."

On the two of the 14,222 who tested covid19-positive, Parasram said, "It means that 99.986 per cent of them did not develop covid19 upon entry into the country."

Against this background, he added, "It is an extremely small percentage to change the policy for." Parasram said the ministry continues to ask people entering TT to remain vigilant for covid19 symptoms during the 14-day incubation period of the virus.

"If you have symptoms, be tested as soon as you can. So of course, be wary of contacts. Try to keep your contact group to a minimum."

He advised people expecting visitors from overseas to ensure they are fully vaccinated as well, as this reduces the risk of transmission of covid19 and in the event of transmission, the symptoms would be very mild.

He reiterated that once a person is fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved covid19 vaccine and has a negative PCR test before entering TT, there is no further quarantine for that individual.

Parasram said in one of the two delta variant cases, "The person would have developed symptoms a few days later...took it upon himself to be tested...once we got him tested, we treated him as a suspect variant of concern...and did the necessary quarantine and isolation."

He said the second case came from the energy sector, which has "some element of quarantine...with persons for example going on (oil) rigs, and the other person fell into that category.

"So he would have been tested as part of that whole network...and picked up as (covid19) positive and sequencing would have been done thereafter."

In a statement on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said the two fully vaccinated people would have been put in isolation as soon the covid19-positive test was received and before they were confirmed as having the delta variant. The ministry said while sequencing variants can take two to three weeks, "the required protocols are put in place for all covid19-positive cases with the relevant travel history, including the two fully vaccinated delta variant cases."

The ministry said four other people entering TT who contracted the delta variant were unvaccinated and were immediately put in state-supervised quarantine on their arrival.