25 deaths catapult TT to 2,115 covid19 deaths

In a week that marked major grim milestones in the number of covid19 deaths and number of cases, 25 deaths between Saturday and Sunday brought the death toll to 2,115.

This comes three days after TT recorded a record high of 31 deaths on November 25 and four days after it crossed 2,000 deaths on November 24. Four of these deaths were in Tobago – the deadliest day for the island to date.

The daily number of new cases recorded on Sunday was 456, the only day other than last Monday on which less than 600 plus cases was recorded. This brings the number of active cases to 10,477.

The Health Ministry has stated that the rising numbers are due at least partially to the presence of the delta variant, which is three to four times more transmissible than the original variant. Officials continue to beg people to get vaccinated and adhere to washing hands, watching their distance and wearing masks.

The Health Ministry’s covid19 update on Sunday said the people who died were 13 elderly men, three elderly women, six middle-aged men, and three middle-aged women. It said 16 of these people had multiple comorbidities, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, kidney disease, asthma, lung disease, and a history of strokes. Five people had a single comorbidity – diabetes, dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or hypertension, while four people had no known medical condition.

Since March 2020, there have been 70,136 cases, of which 57,523 have recovered.

There are 543 patients in hospital. Of these, there are 94 people at the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility, with 20 in the intensive care unit and 31 in the high dependency unit. There are 67 people at the Caura Hospital, 58 at the Augustus Long Hospital, 68 at the St Ann’s Hospital, 67 at the Arima General Hospital, 88 at the new Point Fortin Hospital, 54 at the St James Medical Complex, 43 at the Scarborough Regional Hospital, Fort King George and four at the Scarborough Regional Hospital, Signal Hill.

There are 158 patients in step-down facilities, with none at the Claxton Bay Correctional Facility, 75 at UWI Debe, 29 at UTT Valsayn, 21 at the Point Fortin Area Hospital, 28 at the Port of Spain field hospital, 11 at the Couva field hospital, ten at the Tacarigua facility, and none in Tobago.

There are 82 people in state quarantine facilities, and 9,304 people in home self isolation. There are 232 recovered community cases and 64 people have been discharged from public health facilities.

The ministry said that 90.9 per cent or 5,726 of 6,302 patients in the parallel healthcare system were unvaccinated, based on data from July 22 to November 10.

The update said the total number of people vaccinated with their first dose of a two-dose regime was 643,361. Of these, 120,100 took the Astra Zeneca vaccine, 410,956 took the Sinopharm vaccine, and 112,305 took the Pfizer vaccine.

The number of people vaccinated with their second dose was 599,071, while the number of people vaccinated with the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 42,728. There are 641,799 people who have been fully vaccinated. A total of 21,611 people have received an additional primary dose.

The number of people tested in public and private facilities is 443,512.