Police team to investigate omicron passenger

A special police team is investigating the woman who entered the country despite testing positive for covid19, bringing the latest variant, omicron, into the country.

On Tuesday, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds told the Express  the matter was in the hands of the police.

On Wednesday DCP Mc Donald Jacob told Newsday the team will be headed by ACP Williams. Asked if the police would expand their investigations to include the airline that allowed the woman to board the plane, he said Williams would be best to answer that.

The penalty for falsifying information on a TT Travel Pass is six months in prison and a fine of $350,000.

On Monday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh reported that the first case of the new variant in Trinidad and Tobago had been found in a woman who departed New York on December 9 and entered the country through Panama.

He said she was allowed to board the flight in New York despite having a positive test. She  presented a negative antigen test to local authorities, which she took in Panama.

Deyalsingh said 14 passengers had to be quarantined as a result of her actions.

Asked for an update on the woman and the passengers in quarantine on Wednesday during the Health Ministry’s virtual media briefing, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said the woman’s status remained the same as it was on Monday, with “very, very mild symptoms.”

He added that the 14, who all tested negative after they were selected to be quarantined, in keeping with international protocols for infectious diseases aboard a plane, would be retested on day 12. Those who test negative will be allowed to leave quarantine.

He said the ministry had a listing of those on the plane, and tracing could and would be expanded if needed.

“In the event that a large number of the 14 become positive, we will spread our net a little wider and go from there. Chances are it will be contained in that group.”

Parasram added that the quarantine process for omicron is similar to that for delta, and  patients need a double negative PCR test before they are discharged.