Dr. Maryam Abdool-Richards, chief physician-institution of the Minister of Health, said the recent increase in the daily number of positive cases of Covid-19 is a cause for concern.
Abdool-Richards, who presented a clinical update on the country’s Covid-19 status at the end of Epidemiological Week 15, at Monday’s Covid-19 virtual press conference, said at 4 p.m. on Sunday there were 134 cases confirmed by Covid-19, resulting from the tests taken between April 15-17.
“The increase in the number of positive Covid cases has led to an increase in the total number of active cases to 847.”
She said Trinidad and Tobago had two more Covid-19 deaths in the past 48 hours, bringing the total death toll to 153.
“We have seen a significant increase in the occupancy rate of hospitals. For example, at epidemiological week 11 we had a general hospital occupancy of two percent. At the end of Week 15 we noticed a significant increase in the occupancy rate of hospitals, up to 24%.
“In terms of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and HDU (High Addiction Unit) levels, ICU levels increased from about two to five per cent to 25 percent over a three-week period. HDU levels also rose by up to 10 percent, where I was previously somewhere between zero and four percent between weeks 1 and 11.
“In addition and even more worrying is the trend of the average seven-day number of Covid-19 cases per day over a period of seven weeks. This trend has led to cases that were about three for weeks 1-11, then at the end of week 14 we saw an increase from three to 32 and, starting today, at the end of week 15, this number practically doubled to 77 cases in the last week, “said Abdool-Richards.
Regarding the country’s vaccination program, she said that at 16:00 yesterday (Sunday), 16,462 people received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“We now have the vaccine available for people who are considered high exposure and high risk, ie health workers and the elderly (over 60). However, vaccines are only an additional layer of protection in the fight against Covid-19. ”
Addressing the repatriation of citizens, Abdool-Richards said that following the repatriation of 76 citizens of St Vincent and the Grenadines on Thursday, another repatriation exercise will take place on Wednesday, involving the return of citizens from Miami.
She said Caribbean Airlines has confirmed reservations for 128 adults and three infants, for a total of 131 returning citizens.
“The purpose of these repatriation exercises would be to ensure the safe return of our nationals to the United States, Canada, Barbados, the United Kingdom and other countries, as well as to keep their family members and the population safe.
Abdool-Richards asked the population to follow the 3W protocols on the correct wearing of the mask, washing hands often and monitoring the distance.
“In addition, given the increased number of cases of Covid-19, avoid congregation whenever necessary and stay home and contact the Ministry of Health at 800-WELL or 877-WELL if we have symptoms that may indicate Covid- 19.
“Let’s keep ourselves, our families, our co-workers and our country safe,” said Abdool-Richards.