Tobago is getting ready to see a jump in travellers from Trinidad over the Easter holiday. At today’s Ministry of Health virtual media conference, the county medical officer of health (CMOH) for Tobago, Dr Tiffany Hoyte, said villas were predicting a 98% occupancy rate, while apartments and hotels were expecting …
Read More »Caroni Covid-19 cluster causes jump in new cases; new ‘Antigua’ variant found in UK
A new variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus has been identified in the UK by travellers from Antigua. This variant, which is not yet considered a variant of concern, contains mutations associated with higher transmission and lower vaccine efficacy. Speaking at the Ministry of Health’s virtual media conference, University of the …
Read More »Falling cases, stubborn restrictions, uncertain vaccine rollout: one year with Covid 19
‘[…] Despite low Covid-19 stats that continue to trend downwards, the health minister has said that it is vaccinations that would lead to a return to life before Covid-19 restrictions … ‘[…] Whether that timetable is possible given the problems the government has had sourcing vaccines remains to be seen. …
Read More »CMO: Testing strategy a success; T&T Covid-19 positive rate drops below 1%
The Ministry of Health today reported seven new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country. The daily rolling seven-day average for new cases is now below three cases per day. Speaking at the health ministry’s virtual media conference, chief medical officer Dr Roshan Parasram said that low case numbers were …
Read More »Deyalsingh admits T&T will get one-third of promised vaccines in March
Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh announced that the government now expects 33,600 AstraZeneca vaccines to arrive in T&T at the end of March, and not 100,000 as was previously promised. The government had announced on 30 January 2021 that they were expecting between 100,000 and 120,000 doses of the vaccine …
Read More »Dr Hinds: T&T aiming for zero Covid-19 transmissions
Trinidad and Tobago’s goal is to drive transmission of the Sars-Cov-2 virus—the virus that causes Covid-19—down to zero. This, according to the Ministry of Health’s technical director of the epidemiology division, Dr Avery Hinds. Speaking at the health ministry’s virtual press conference, Dr Hinds acknowledged that achieving zero transmissions would …
Read More »Deyalsingh to Kamla: Hate the gov’t, not T&T; Tobago student tests positive for Covid-19
Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh said he was disappointed that the leader of the opposition, Kamla Persad-Bisessar, had requested a donation of Covid-19 vaccines from the government of India. In a letter dated 23 February 2021, addressed to the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, Persad-Bisessar wrote that Trinidad and …
Read More »Gov’t: No free vaccines from India; Dr Hinds: Herd immunity not ‘be-all end-all’
Several news outlets, including the Miami Herald, have reported that India plans to ship more than 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Caricom countries as a humanitarian donation. But Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dr Amery Browne said Trinidad and Tobago has not received any such offer of aid. …
Read More »Dr Rowley: ‘Virtually no supply of Covid-19 vaccines for small countries like T&T’
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley described the marketplace for vaccines as ‘topsy turvy’ during his statement at the Ministry of Health’s virtual media conference on Monday. The prime minister said that for smaller countries like Trinidad and Tobago, accessing the vaccine directly from manufacturers was a challenge. “If you were …
Read More »Gov’t hits back over vaccine procurement; Dr Browne: It’s responsible to wait for WHO approval
“[…] The Trinidad Guardian went so far in its editorial to opine that Trinidad and Tobago’s decision to wait on the ‘validation’ of the World Health Organization before exploring India’s AstraZeneca option ‘seems unnecessary’. “[…] If we offered unapproved vaccines and persons became ill or died as a result, the …
Read More »Covid-19 vaccine rollout starts Saturday in Tobago; 310 vaccinated so far in Trinidad
Tobago received 200 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday. These doses were from the 2,000 given to T&T by the government of Barbados. Frontline healthcare workers will get their shots starting Saturday 20 February. The Ministry of Health’s vaccine rollout began on Wednesday 17 February when the first …
Read More »Dear Editor: Covid-19 regulations unfairly and disproportionately affecting youth athletes
“[…] In primary schools, it is 2,475 from 4,960 students or 49.8% [who are inactive due to Covid-19 regulations], while it is 2,838 from 4,750 students in secondary schools or 60%. That means a combined total of 5,313 from 9,710 students in Tobago, or 58%. “If Trinidad and Tobago had …
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