Trinidad records six new Omicron cases

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago has registered six more cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

In its latest bulletin, the Ministry of Health said that three of the new cases were foreign nationals aboard an international ship that has already left local waters.

It further said that two were nationals with a recent history of travel and the other case is a national with no history of travel.

“As a result of their positive COVID-19 results, all patients have been isolated. The patients will remain in isolation until they meet the enhanced discharge criteria for persons with COVID-19 variants of concern. Additionally, contacts of the positive Omicron COVID-19 cases have been quarantined.”

With the six new Omicron cases, this has pushed the total number of infections to 11.

The health ministry statement said that the presence of the Omicron variant was confirmed through gene sequencing at the laboratory of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies (UWI) and that “research has suggested that this variant is more easily spread from person to person as compared to previous variants but further information is needed on its impact on persons who contract this variant.”

The ministry said that, to date, 2, 793 people have died from the virus since the first case was reported in March last year and that there are 16, 723 active cases pushing the total number of positive cases to 90, 004.

There are 478 patients in hospitals across the country with 15,900 in home isolation and 60 in state-sanctioned facilities.

The ministry said 664,699 people are fully vaccinated, while 66,979 others have received a booster shot.

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