By Sue-Ann Wayow
WHICH airline is responsible for landing the first case of the Covid-19 Omicron variant of concern in Trinidad and Tobago?
This was the question asked by Member of Parliament for Oropouche East Dr Roodal Moonilal to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh in Parliament on Monday.
Deyalsingh did not have an answer and said the Ministry of Health was not responsible for the investigation launched into how a passenger, a national of Trinidad and Tobago, with a positive PCR test was able to board a flight in New York and travel through Panama (with a negative antigen test) before landing at the Piarco International Airport.
In Parliament, there was only one urgent question on the Order Paper to be asked to the minister as he announced on Monday, the entrance of the Omicron variant.
Deyalsingh was initially asked to explain the circumstances of the arrival of the Omicron case by Member of Parliament for Caroni East Dr Rishard Seecharan.
Deyalsingh repeated information shared at the Ministry of Health’s virtual media conference earlier that the passenger boarded a flight on December 9.
He went into details about the TTPass system.
The minister said, “All individuals using TTPass must answer a questionnaire as truthfully and humanly possible. To support those truthful answers, the individual is supposed to upload their documents to support and validate what they have said.
“At check-in counter with the airline, the airline is supposed to scrutinise the hard copies at both the point of embarkation in New York or anywhere else and they are also supposed to scrutinise at the point of disembarkation as what happened in Piarco.”
He said, “There are two further checks and balances to verify the uploaded information. The final check and balance is at Piarco International Airport and this was picked up where the officers noticed that the PCR test was in fact a positive result test.”
He again praised the port health officers for detecting that issue, officers who have been abused by passengers travelling over the past few months he added.
“It is a joint responsibility with the airline not the Ministry of Health in Trinidad and Tobago, the airline and the check-in counter to ensure the PCR results or any other documents are actually valid and that is what did not happen in this particular case in New York,” Deyalsingh said.
When asked about the airline by Dr Moonilal, Deyalsingh responded, “That is currently being investigated between the immigration department and the civil aviation authority, they will make their identification and do the necessary investigations. At this point in time, I do not know the name of the airline.”
When further pressed, Deyalsingh emphasised, “It is not the responsibility of the Minister of Health to do this.”
Deyalsingh’s response abominable
Dr Moonilal later issued a press release on the matter saying Deyalsingh should have been made aware of which airline, the passenger arrived on.
He described Deyalsingh’s response as “abominable and surreal.”
The Orpouche MP said, “This is abominable! It is surreal that the Minister of Health is unaware of the identity of an airline that brought a Covid-19 Omicron positive passenger five days ago. When the minister claimed to have knowledge of the identity of the passenger but not the airline he or she boarded.”
He said that information could have easily been obtained from the passenger’s boarding pass.
Dr Moonilal also expressed concern that the identities of the other persons on the flight on quarantine were not yet known.
“Does this mean that airline staff and fellow passengers have recklessly left the airport and are now free to spread this highly transmittable variant?” he asked.
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