No changes will be made to existing public health regulations in light of the fact that Trinidad and Tobago has the first confirmed case of the UK Covid-19 variant – B117.
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said yesterday that the ministry would not accept “shocking” responses and would base its decisions on epidemiological evidence. The discovery of the variant in a repatriated UK citizen should also not affect plans to reopen schools, Deyalsingh said.
During yesterday’s virtual press conference, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Roshan Parasram, said there was no exposure of the patient to the general population as all protocols had been followed. He explained that the patient had traveled from the UK on January 6 and had a negative Covid-19 test prior to the trip. He said the patient was quarantined upon arrival in accordance with current requirements, and a subsequent Pap smear determined the patient was Covid-19 positive. The sample was sent to the University of the West Indies (UWI) for genomic sequencing, where the patient was determined to have the British variant of the virus.
Parasram said there were 49 people fleeing from the UK to Trinidad, and they were all quarantined and fired after making negative cotton swabs.
Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said the British variant, which causes the same symptoms, spreads more easily and may be up to 70 percent more transmissible.
“So that’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 the antigen and PCR tests. He added that there is also no evidence that the Covid-19 vaccine would be ineffective against the new variant.
Deyalsingh said that in light of the information, there is no need to impose further restrictions so far.
“We are revising as we viewed the epidemiological evidence, and we will revise that now that we have this one isolated case,” he said. “It’s too early to cause sudden panic reactions.”
This also applies to decisions to postpone the reopening of schools. The Ministry of Health met with education officials on Thursday to discuss plans for the partial reopening of schools, originally scheduled for February 8.
Deyalsingh said he spoke with Education Secretary, Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, advising against making hasty decisions.
The Ministry of Education is expected to release guidelines for the reopening of schools next week.