21 deaths, 756 covid19 cases recorded

Trinidad and Tobago is on the brink of reaching a total of 2,200 deaths from covid19, as Thursday’s total of 21 deaths brought the death toll to 2,198.

The numbers of reported new cases remains high, at 756.

The country crossed 2,000 deaths on November 24, and 2,100 deaths on November 28.

The number of recorded cases is the third highest in a day over the pandemic period, with 781 and 763 being recorded in November.

This brings the number of active cases to 11,124.

Since March 2020, there have been 72,755 recorded cases, of which 59,363 have recovered. A total of 448,053 people have been tested in public and private facilities.

The Health Ministry’s covid19 update on Thursday said the people who died were seven elderly men, four elderly women, seven middle-aged men, and three middle-aged women. It said 14 of these people had multiple comorbidities, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, heart disease, lung disease, and a history of strokes. Two people had a single comorbidity – diabetes – while five people had no known comorbidity.

There are 532 patients in hospital. Of these, 93 are at the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility, with 23 in the intensive care unit and 15 in the high dependency unit. There are 75 people at the Caura Hospital, 58 at the Augustus Long Hospital, 56 at the St Ann’s Hospital, 62 at the Arima General Hospital, 90 at the new Point Fortin Hospital, 51 at the St James Medical Complex, 40 at the Scarborough Regional Hospital, Fort King George and seven at the Scarborough Regional Hospital, Signal Hill.

There are 155 patients in step-down facilities, with none at the Claxton Bay Correctional Facility, 46 at UWI Debe, 34 at UTT Valsayn, 29 at the Point Fortin Area Hospital, 28 at the Port of Spain field hospital, 11 at the Couva Field Hospital, seven at the Tacarigua facility, and none in Tobago.

There are 71 people in state quarantine facilities, and 9,771 people in home self-isolation. There are 373 recovered community cases and 104 people have been discharged from public health facilities.

The ministry said 89.8 per cent or 6,408 of 7,134 patients in the parallel healthcare system were unvaccinated, based on data from July 22-November 17.

The update said the total number of people vaccinated with their first dose of a two-dose regime was 646,857. Of these, 120,100 took the AstraZeneca vaccine, 412,559 took Sinopharm, and 114,198 took the Pfizer vaccine.

The number of people vaccinated with their second dose was 601,922, while 43,911 people have been received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Out of an eligible 1.1 million people, 645,833 have been fully vaccinated. A total of 28,984 people have received an additional primary dose.