More beds available for covid19 patients

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said there was adequate bed capacity for patients in the event of large-scale infections.

Speaking at a media conference on Sunday, Deyalsingh said there were 838 beds available at several facilities across the county to accommodate patients, those recovering and people suspected of having the virus.

"At Couva we have a bed capacity of 230. At Augustus Long Hospital, Pointe-A-Pierre which will come onstream in the next week or so we will have a capacity of 50. At Caura, we have ramped up our capacity there to 100. In Arima which will be operational from next week, 94. In Tacarigua (the National Racquet Centre), 50 which is mainly at a convalescent centre. In Sangre Grande, 30, also mainly as a convalescent centre. In the Debe UWI campus, 96, also at a convalescent centre.

"The Princess Elizabeth Centre, 13, to support the Port of Spain General Hospital mainly as an isolation centre. The National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) has 60 beds which is mainly as isolation, quarantine for health care workers. Balandra, 40 mainly as an isolation quarantine facility and convalescence. Tobago, 75 which will deal with acute, severe and critical cases."

Deyalsingh said that while further spikes in the number of cases were anticipated, it was unclear how many people may become infected at a given time and said adequate facilities to treat the sick were necessary for planning.

He also said that up until the time of the press conference the beds at both Couva and Caura had 18 per cent occupancy, while facilities at Tobago were completely unoccupied.

For his part Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram confirmed that up to midday on Sunday, there were 113 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in TT, with eight deaths and 16 people discharged.

He said there were a total of 59 people hospitalised- 18 at Caura and 41 at Couva.

Parasram also said 30 people were discharged from the Couva hospital to convalescent or step-down facilities, while 19 people were discharged from Balandra to another convalescent facility.