IRO brings back covid19 measures for worship

THE Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) has advised its members to immediately reinstitute covid19 protocols used during the pandemic during worship, amid fears of a spike.

IRO head Pundit Lloyd Mukram Sirjoo told Newsday members met virtually on January 20 to discuss covid19 and crime. "This is a sort of a protective measure, a stopgap measure, so that people would not get themselves involved as they were before.

"The Carnival is right around the corner, less than a month away, so we have to... get people to take some sort of precaution for their health and their health issues," he said. The protocols recommended included mask-wearing, sanitisation and social distancing.

Sirjoo said the IRO is not mandating them but rather offering advice.

Last week the Tobago House of Assembly's Division of Education, Research and Technology, headed by Secretary Zorisha Hackett, ordered schools to return to covid19 protocols, amid rising cases of the disease and influenza on the island. That move came days after Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh revealed there were five covid-related deaths between December 28 and January 15. In Parliament on January 19, Deyalsingh said there had now been six fatalities with 13 people warded across three hospitals.

A day earlier, the Health Ministry confirmed the presence of the JN.1 sub-variant of the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the local population through genetic sequencing.

While the sub-variant is believed to be more transmissible, the ministry said there is no evidence that it causes more severe illness. It is now the main variant driving infections in the US, accounting for 85.7 per cent of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Since the minister's initial revelation of the five covid19 fatalities, many among the population have raised concerns, especially with the upcoming Carnival. However, Deyalsingh has since called for the concern not to be exaggerated.The Health Ministry has stopped issuing covid19 updates but on January 19 Deyalsingh said the seven-day rolling average of new cases was less than one. For the same period in 2023, it was 74, and 918 in 2022, at the peak of the outbreak. With six deaths in four weeks, the rolling average will be significantly less than one. On January 19, 2023, the seven-day rolling average of deaths was one, 14 in 2022 and one also in 2021. Similarly, there were 172 active cases on January 19, 2023; 18,102 on that date in 2022; and 338 in 2021.