By Chantalé Fletcher
TWO samples out of the previous seven sent for genomic testing have been returned having insufficient materials to determine sequencing.
This is according to Covid-19 response team member for County Medical Officer of Health Dr Anthony Thompson who spoke at the Tobago Division of Heath, Wellness and Family Development virtual presser on Thursday.
He said, “The remaining five samples’ results are still pending.”
Dr Thompson revealed that this week showed 31 new cases from June 18 to 24, which is a significant decrease from the previous week of 89.
He said four deaths over the last week were of a 71- and 73-year-old-women both with two co-morbidities each. In addition, two males, one 62-year-old male with three co-morbidities and the youngest male, a 26-year-old with one co-morbidity.
Dr Thompson said, “The trend is persons over age 60 with comorbidities being at higher risk but, also to underscore the point that young people can develop illness that leads to their demise.”
He also stated that the active cases up to June 23 was 119 which was a decreased from 175. In addition, positive cases in home isolation up till June 23 were down to 89.
Referring to the seven-day rolling average of 183 which has plateaued over the last two weeks Dr Thompson added, “We have witnessed a decline over the last week to 150 which is an encouraging sign.”
However, he said, “In terms of the seven-day average for new cases, it had peeked just over two weeks just over 19. It has declined over the last week to a value of eight and this is the best value recorded since May.”
Dr Thompson said, “We need to keep an eye on the sample positivity rate which declined over the last week to about 15% but has rebounded somewhat over week 14, to just over 17%.”
He said, “As we record fewer cases and have fewer asymptomatic primary contacts to test, we still get people coming through the testing services who are symptomatic and have a higher chance at testing positive.”
In reference to week 14, Dr Thompson said, “Over that week we developed 56 cases which is significantly down from the previous week.”
He warned, “The data is encouraging but we have to bear in mind that there are still enough circulating cases in the community for us to be mindful that the war is not over.
“There are still cases that can cause another optic in case load, so we need to keep doing what we’re doing and drive this thing right down to zero.”
