Trinidad and Tobago yesterday recorded its most frightening Covid-19 infection tally to date—with 223 people testing positive, while simultaneously surpassing the 10,000 mark for total confirmed cases since the virus first appeared locally in March 2020.
The Ministry of Health also reported two more Covid-19 deaths.
They were both elderly women, both with co-morbidities, the ministry said.
This brings the total number of Covid-19-related deaths to 163.
The alarming numbers were also reached as the country comes to grips with news in the last fortnight that another seemingly more aggressive mutation of the virus, the P1 Covid-19 (Brazilian variant), is now in the national community.
The statistics coincide with a winding-down of the Government’s vaccination programme as the State awaits more vials from various sources.
The Ministry of Health advised that as of Tuesday evening, 42,082 people have been vaccinated.
The authorities, including Health Minister Terrence DeyalÂsingh, placed the population on heightened alert and called for renewed vigour in adherence to the public health regulations designed to limit or stop the spread of Covid-19.
The daily, rolling average of Covid-19 cases has been rising since the end of February, and this multiplied following the four-day Easter holiday weekend.
Head epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health Dr Avery Hinds attributed the rise to gathering and domestic travel.
Yesterday’s daily clinical update from the ministry showed that T&T recorded a staggering 223 new cases, its highest daily tally to date.
As at 4 p.m. yesterday, the country had also recorded 10,170 positive cases since the first patient was confirmed on March 12, 2020.
These figures are also available on several international websites that are updated daily, including on https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/trinidad-and-tobago/.
The 223 new cases were recorded from samples tested between April 25 and 27.
Deyalsingh said up to yesterday that while genetic sequencing is still being carried out on a percentage of random samples in order to gauge the establishment of the P1 variant with community spread, this is under The University of the West Indies (The UWI), which at the this time lacks the capacity to test all positives.
Of the 10,170 people to have had Covid-19 locally, a total of 8,351 patients have since recovered, the ministry stated.
Of that, 58 recovered community cases were reported and 12 people were discharged from public health facilities.
The ministry said the total number of active Covid-19 cases was 1,656 people.
One hundred and fifty are hospitalised.
(Trinidad Express)
