A minor is the latest to be confirmed with Covid-19 in Trinidad and Tobago.
She is the daughter of an employee of Republic Bank.
The bank issued a release stating that its West Mall branch will be closed on Thursday and Friday.
Bank workers the parent came in contact with will be swabbed on Thursday.
Revealing this was Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh at an unscheduled virtual media conference of his ministry on Thursday.
The minor is the second to be tested positive without any recent travel history in two days.
Deyalsingh said, “We are concerned. We have been tracking two local cases of Covid-19 which have no international connection, that is, related to someone coming in or an imported case. Our infection control measures have been activated.”
He said, “The new case is a minor that is under 18 years of age and is in fact the daughter of an employee of Republic Bank.”
Deyalsingh said, “I have spoken this morning to Mr Derwin Howell, the executive director of Republic Bank, and video footage from the movement of the employee and the minor within Republic Bank would have shown that there was close contact with about 11 employees of Republic Bank, and all employees have been sent home and they will be swabbed today (Thursday).”
He said, “It is so important now when we have these two cases that if you are ill, please stay home, get tested. That case yesterday where someone was ill for a whole week, seven days, if that person had heeded the advice that we were giving out may not have had the cascade effect of disrupting so much business activity.”
Deyalsingh said, “We have already started the contact tracing for this new case that is being done. It is a very robust contact tracing program. All infection control measures at Republic Bank are being taken with sanitization and so on.”
The total number of Covid-19 cases in TT is 141, with 127 patients discharged and eight deaths.
There are now five active Covid-19 cases in hospital.
On Wednesday it was reported that an elderly person whose primary contact had visited Pennywise outlet on Charlotte Street in Port-of-Spain.
Its Charlotte Street and Long Circular Mall branches were closed but have reopened on Thursday.
The branches have been opened because the staff were tested and new ones were sent to branches, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said.
