THA chief sec warns Tobago of death spike if covid19 rules are flouted

After Tobago's first covid19 delta variant case was detected, Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly Ancil Dennis has cautioned Tobagonians if they aren’t careful, the island could see up to 40 deaths per day.

Speaking at the weekly post-Executive Council media briefing on Wednesday, Dennis said, “I want to put Tobagonians on notice. This is a very serious matter.

"All of us know someone, some family that lost a loved one, due to this virus. I knew many of the names, and many of the names I could put faces to them."

He warned, "We cannot afford to get into any situation that will see possibly 30-40 persons dying per day. We are a small population of 60,000 persons, with two hospitals...in this scenario, the healthcare system can be overwhelmed very quickly if we are not extremely careful."

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced six more delta cases, including one in Tobago, bringing the total number to 32.

Dennis said, “I don't have the details of the case and even if I have the details, I will not reveal it, but that has changed the game for us.

"The delta variant, according to science, is a lot more dangerous, it is a lot more transmissible. It is a lot more likely to send people into the hospital and ICU. And therefore, we ought to be extremely more careful as an island."

He said the assembly is looking at hosting a consultation to improve the vaccine education drive to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

"This is a serious development. I've seen some very ridiculous comments about persons suggesting...'Open economy: who dead, dead.' Some people will have those views and may be quite serious about those views until somebody for them dies."