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There will be no change to existing public health regulations given that Trinidad and Tobago has its first confirmed case of the UK variant of Covid-19 – B117.
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said yesterday that the ministry would take no knee-jerk reaction and base its decisions on epidemiological evidence. Finding the variant in a repatriated UK national is also unlikely to affect plans to reopen schools, Deyalsingh said.
Speaking at yesterday’s virtual press conference, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said the patient had not been exposed to the general population as all protocols were followed. He explained that the patient had traveled from the UK on January 6 and produced a negative Covid-19 test before traveling. He said the patient was quarantined on arrival in accordance with current requirements, and that a subsequent sample determined the patient to be positive for Covid-19. The sample was sent to the University of the West Indies (UWI) for genomic sequencing where it was determined that the patient had the UK variant of the virus.
Parasram said there were 49 people on the flight from the UK to Trinidad and they were all quarantined and discharged after producing negative swabs.
Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said the British variant, while producing the same symptoms, spread more easily and could be up to 70% more transmissible.
“So it’s a public health issue,” he said. However, Hinds said there is no evidence that the variant is more serious or deadly than the original virus and that it does not affect the accuracy of antigen and PCR tests. He added that there was also no evidence that the Covid-19 vaccine would not be effective against the new variant.
Deyalsingh said that based on the information provided so far, there is no need to implement any further restrictions.
“We’re looking at it as we looked at the epidemiological evidence, and we’ll look at it now that we have this isolated case contained,” he said. “It’s too early to panic reflexes.”
This includes any decision to delay the reopening of schools. The health ministry met with education officials on Thursday to discuss plans to partially reopen schools, initially scheduled for February 8.
Deyalsingh said he had spoken with Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and recommended that no spontaneous decisions be made.
The Department of Education is expected to announce the guidelines for reopening schools next week.
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