Trinidad and Tobago must ready to face Omicron spike: Deyal Singh

Principal Medical Officer Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards and Health Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Terrence Deyal Singh stated that a new variant of COVID-19 Omicron could show its surge as about 42 countries have faced it. So far, a total of 12 people have been diagnosed with the Omicron variant.

While speaking during the virtual health news conference on Monday, Deyal Singh warned the citizens that they should be ready to deal with the surge of the Omicron variant. ” The strain of the new variant can be dominant in Trinidad and Tobago, and it can affect the livelihoods of the people again,” Deyal Singh added.

Abdool Richards Dr Maryam also asserted,” the variant is not in community transmission as of today.”

While asserting the significance of vaccination, Health Minister underscored,” Every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago should get their booster shots as soon as possible as Omicron is spreading widely”.

He further ensured that the government was providing testing facilities and continuously monitored the positive cases of Omicron.

While referring to the cases of Omicron, Abdool-Richards, said, “With the start of 2022, we have entered with the threat of the Omicron variant. In the 12 cases of Omicron, most people do not have to travel history. From the experience of the world, we have seen that cases are doubling every two to three days”.

Deyal Singh further asserted that they believe in the protocols established by WHO as it is the only thing where people can get assurance.

He also said that vaccination is the best for any variant, and the country is taking the report of people who died with Omicron to know whether they were vaccinated.

So, far, the number of the people who are partially immunised by taking both their one dose in the whole world is 9.2 billion, which represents 58.3 percent of the world’s population. Moreover, the figure covers only 8.5 percent of low-income countries that have received one dose of vaccine.

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