(Trinidad Guardian) Trinidad and Tobago has recorded its deadliest day for the pandemic, with 37 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Yesterday, the nation recorded its ninth paediatric COVID-19 fatality, a teenaged female.
Five of nine paediatric deaths have occurred during December. Among the latest 37 deaths, 11 had no underlying health conditions. The nation has lost 2,718 people to the pandemic, with 2,591 recorded in 2021.
In the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health also confirmed 964 new COVID-19 cases, the second-highest daily case count for the pandemic to date. Total COVID-19 cases now stand at 88,944, while active cases reached 16,543.
As Trinidad and Tobago enters its last week of 2021 and the Christmas holiday season, the COVID-19 picture is at its worst yet. All metrics – active cases, daily confirmed cases and deaths, hospital occupancy, Accident and Emergency occupancy, and ambulance utilization- are at the highest for the pandemic.
Based on the latest data from the Ministry of Health, one in every 16 people has had a positive COVID-19 test result, while presently, one in 85 people has an active COVID-19 infection. One in every 520 people has died after testing positive for COVID-19, with the seven-day rolling average for deaths at a pandemic high of 27 deaths per day. The seven-day average for cases stands at 730 as of yesterday.
December 2021 has become the nation’s deadliest and most infectious month for COVID-19, with 560 deaths and 17,583 cases, eclipsing November 2021’s record of 14,032 cases and 462 deaths.
Given the already alarming figures, geneticist Dr Nicole Ramlachan is forecasting a disastrous start to the new year if the population isn’t careful over this holiday season- especially with the Omicron variant possibly circulating among the population.
“It took Delta about two months to two and a half months to really take over (in the United States), and we thought that was really indicative of the high transmissibility of that particular variant. This variant (Omicron) pretty much took over the US after first appearing within two weeks, so that is something that is probably going to be our future, and we need to realise that,” she said.
To date, the nation has confirmed, through genetic sequencing, 577 Gamma COVID-19 cases, 505 Delta COVID-19 cases, and five Omicron COVID-19 cases.
She added, “If we think we’re not surging now, two weeks from now, we’re going to surge even more with all the Christmas travel, all the movement, with people celebrating and families opening up their doors to…extended family members.”
Dr Ramlachan advised that heightened vigilance be practised during any family gatherings. She said that everyone be vaccinated, gatherings are kept as small as possible, masks are worn, and be held in opened, well-ventilated areas.
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of vaccine requirements for the public sector last Saturday, there was a surge of vaccinations this week. However, these numbers declined as the week progressed.
On Monday, over 7,000 vaccines were administered, the highest since early October. In the last 24 hours, there were 2,594 COVID-19 vaccines administered, but only 678 of these were either a first dose or a one-dose vaccine. However, a better metric would be seven-day rolling averages which show nearly 3,500 doses being administered on average daily. Hadeed charged in US with allegedly arranging hit
