By Prior Beharry
FORTY confirmed cases of the Brazilian P1 variant of the Covid-19 have been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago.
And it has contributed to none of the deaths due to the Covid-19 thus far.
This was revealed by Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram at the virtual presser of the Ministry of Health on Monday.
He said, “More or less, the trends remain similar. A slight decrease in the higher age groups, and you are seeing some in the 50s and the 40s.
“We are seeing a slight increase in the female-to-male ratio, where for most of the pandemic, you would have had females accounting for 25%, males for 75%.”
Principal Medical Officer Institutions Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said the parallel healthcare system has not collapsed.
She said, “Although the parallel healthcare system is at a 73% level overall in T&T in terms of the hospitals, I would not say that it has collapsed.
“But it is very close to being overwhelmed, and its resilience is being tested.”
She said bed capacity were at 92%, 72% and 70% at the Augustus Long Hospital, Arima General Hospital and Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility respectively.
Dr Abdool-Richards said the Ministry of Health has resources such as ventilators which we are using to increase capacity.”
She added, “These resources are of course limited and will run out if we continue at this trend.”
Abdool-Richards said bed capacity at the University of Trinidad and Tobago Valsayn campus will be increased from from 40 to 60.
She said the seven-day rolling average of cases was now at 414 confirmed daily cases per day.
Dr Abdool-Richards said the a greater number of people testing positive now required medical care.
She said, “The number of admissions and discharges continue to increase at a consistent rate over the last three days, and it’s important to note this trend of an increasing rate.
“We have noted, based on the last week, that the number of confirmed cases that require admission in a hospital is in the vicinity of 18 per 100, while we have a discharge rate of seven per 100.
“This means that for every 100 cases that’s been confirmed, 11 persons are required to go in the hospital and stay there.”
