Trinidad and Tobago’s covid death toll crosses 3,000

Trinidad and Tobago passed the grim milestone of 3,000 covid19 deaths on Friday, with 18 deaths bringing the death toll to 3,010.

The second highest number of new cases for the entire pandemic to date was also recorded on this day, with 974 cases reported from samples taken between Saturday and Thursday. The highest number of cases was 984, reported on December 3, 2021.

For 2022, there have been 141 deaths in the first seven days, an average of 20 per day, along with 4,171 new cases, an average of 596 daily. The comparable period in 2021 recorded 60 cases and no deaths.

There are now 16,119 active cases. Since March 2020, there have been 96,070 cases, of which 76,941 people have recovered.

The Health Ministry’s covid19 update on Friday said the people who died were seven elderly men, five elderly women, two middle-aged men, and four middle-aged women. It said ten of them had multiple comorbidities, including a mix of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, asthma, thyroid disease, dementia, kidney disease and a history of strokes. Four people each had only one comorbidity, while four people had no known comorbidities.

First-dose vaccination numbers rose slightly, with 1,044 people taking their first dose of a two-dose vaccine between Thursday and Friday, while 583 people took their second dose, and 265 people took the one-dose J&J vaccine.

The number of people who took booster and third primary doses over the same period was 2,069.

The update said the total number of people vaccinated with their first dose of a two-dose regime was now 668,848. The number of people vaccinated with their second dose was 623,120, while the number of people vaccinated with the one-shot J&J vaccine was 50,079.

There are 673,179 people who have been fully vaccinated, out of an eligible 1.1 million people, while 726,801 people have received either a first dose or no dose of a vaccine.

A total of 85,4928 people have received an additional primary dose or a booster dose.

The ministry said 86 per cent, or 9,607 of 11,177 patients in the parallel healthcare system, were unvaccinated, based on data from July 22-December 22.

There are 447 patients in hospital. Of these, there are 120 people at the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility, with 23 in the intensive care unit and 24 in the high dependency unit. There are 43 people at the Caura Hospital, 57 at the Augustus Long Hospital, two at the St Ann’s Hospital, 60 at the Arima General Hospital, 92 at the new Point Fortin Hospital, 46 at the St James Medical Complex, 23 at the Scarborough Regional Hospital, Fort King George and four at the Scarborough Regional Hospital, Signal Hill.

There are 160 patients in step-down facilities, with none at the Claxton Bay Correctional Facility, 60 at UWI Debe, 28 at UTT Valsayn, 29 at the Point Fortin Area Hospital, 23 at the Port of Spain field hospital, none at the Couva Field Hospital, 17 at the Tacarigua Facility, and three in Tobago.

There are 82 people in state quarantine facilities, and 14,538 people in home self-isolation. There are 499 recovered community cases and 94 people have been discharged from public health facilities.

The number of people tested in both public and private facilities is 523,225, of which 231,940 were done at private facilities.