“[…] The point I want to make here with respect to Covid-19 is that this crisis has brought to the forefront a whole new concept that prior to now was not one that we gave a lot of national attention. This concept is that of ‘National Healthcare Security’. “I draw …
Read More »Health Ministry prepares to start ‘surveillance testing’ across country for Covid-19
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said that, for the first time, the government will begin the process of testing persons for Covid-19 who did not present with symptoms and were not located through contact tracing. The procedure, described as ‘surveillance testing’, was recommended by chief medical officer Dr Roshan Parasram and …
Read More »‘Apparently T&T feels safe enough…’ Young ends state-funded neighbourhood watch, mum on procurement
National Security Minister Stuart Young’s initiative to put four security firms into residential areas across the country lasted barely 48 hours. At a virtual press conference this morning, Young told the national community that the programme was cancelled due to public feedback. The four firms were: Allied Security Limited, Amalgamated …
Read More »Critical point! Govt’s new directives on masks, working hours, pharmaceutical price hikes … and KFC
Trinidad and Tobago has already waved goodbye to overseas travel, doubles, river and beach limes, cinemas, night clubs, bars, betting shops and church. Next on the chopping block is chicken and chips, pizza and any other type of restaurant fare. It is, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley stressed today, the …
Read More »Daly Bread: Siq transit gloria; is govt’s limited Covid-19 testing a ‘calculated risk’?
My headline today is not a typographical error. As suggested below, it is still uncertain whether the government’s policy of Siq, that is separate, isolate and quarantine is a sound enough response to our Covid-19 crisis. We just don’t know yet. Sic transit gloria mundi is the full classic incantation …
Read More »Are fishermen non-essential? MoH touches on fish, homes for the aged and public masks
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh today called on members of the public to take their elderly loved ones out of homes and also suggested that new guidelines are coming for caregivers, as part of the fight against the novel coronavirus Covid-19. At the time of the press conference, Trinidad and Tobago …
Read More »Carnival didn’t bring Covid-19! T&T borders stay closed until 30 April—along with bars, churches and doubles vendors
National Security Minister Stuart Young confirmed today that Trinidad and Tobago’s borders as well as bars, clubs, theatres, betting houses, churches and dining-in areas at restaurants will remain closed until 30 April 2020. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh made the amendment to the Public Health [2019 Novel Coronavirus] Regulations yesterday. The …
Read More »Health ministry reveals Covid-19 map data, 388 prisoners proposed for release
“Today marks an inflection point, a turning point, with how we treat with Covid-19,” said Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh at today’s press conference. “If we as a society heed the warnings of the prime minister, the minister of health, the chief medical officer, the commissioner of police, civil society; and …
Read More »Update: No State of Emergency, prison population reduction and 1,000 tests per day
“If I have a problem, as a public officer and prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, it has to be that I have this confidence,” said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, “that the vast majority of our people are right thinking and reasonable people and will understand—once they are informed …
Read More »Noble: Public trust and press conferences; does more info mean greater transparency or insecurity?
The scale and speed of the Covid-19 disease are unsettlingly apocalyptic. A now-familiar question is: have you ever seen anything like this in your lifetime? The short answer is no. I have lived through the assassination of John F Kennedy when we were sent home from school; the 9/11 event, …
Read More »CMO: T&T may have local spread, behave like person next to you has Covid-19
Ministry of Health CMO Dr Roshan Parasram warned today that Trinidad and Tobago might now be experiencing low levels of ‘local spread’ of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 and urged persons to treat everyone in their immediate vicinity as though they were infected. As of this morning, the twin island republic …
Read More »Non-essential workers ordered home from 30 March; Gov’t addresses blanks on first Covid-19 death
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley advised today that only ‘essential workers’ should report to work between 30 March and 15 April. For the rest, the message was: stay at home. However, Rowley stressed, on multiple occasions, that he was not proposing a state of emergency, and he criticised a Trinidad …
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