Ministry of Health Virtual Media Conference On COVID-19: Saturday February 5th 2022

Key Points from the Ministry of Health’s Media Conference on COVID-19 – Saturday February 5th, 2022: Chief Medical Officer Dr. Roshan Parasram gave an update on the Quarantine And Discharge criteria for COVID-19 patients. Persons in self-quarantine at home will continue to be officially discharged 14 days after the day they were exposed to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case, once they continue to display no symptoms. If symptoms do develop, please notify your County Medical Officer of Health immediately and arrangements will be made for COVID-19 testing. - Persons who are Asymptomatic will be discharged 10 days from the date the Positive COVID-19 swab was taken. - Persons who are Symptomatic will be discharged after: 1. A minimum of 10 days after they first had symptoms. 2. PLUS three days where they do not show any acute symptoms. Persons who develop acute symptoms (cough, fever, runny nose) during the Quarantine period will be swabbed and treated. The Ministry of Health continues to urge people to get vaccinated/boosted to prevent serious illness/hospitalisation. The COVID-19 Booster Programme continues. The latest phase will be rolled out from February 7th 2022. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the number of COVID-19 deaths could have been avoided if people got vaccinated. He said too many people are dying because they are unvaccinated. Minister Deyalsingh said Sinopharm is the most widely accepted brand of COVID-19 vaccine in T&T. The Health Minister also said officials have “no hard evidence to show that any number of people who died would have contracted COVID-19 at any particular place of work.”