By Prior Beharry
WITH 92% of the population of Trinidad and Tobago exposed to Covid-19 and higher levels of immunity compared to last year, there is no need to put in stringent measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. And Carnival 2023 will go on.
This was the declaration of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the much-anticipated press conference to deal with Covid-19 at the Diplomatic Centre on Thursday.
He also said that half of the population was vaccinated.
Also speaking at the press conference were Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram, Principal Medical Officer Institutions Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards, epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds and Professor of molecular genetics and virology at UWI Christine Carrington.
Dr Hinds said most of the deaths were in elderly people with comorbidities and the unvaccinated. He cited an increase in cases since December.
Profession Carrington said there were six variants of the Omicron strain in Trinidad and Tobago.
She said there were four cases of the omicron XBB 1.5 variant in T&T.
This statement was contrary to a Ministry of Health press release on December 30 denying the presence of this variant in T&T. This after a WhatsApp message stating that it was here went viral.
Pro Carrington noted that World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that this variant was detected in 38 different countries, with most of the cases in the US.
Abool-Richards said there were 71 Covid-19 cases in hospital including two children. She said 51 of the cases were in the parallel healthcare system. She said five were in the intensive care unit.
