Ministry of Health Virtual Media Conference on COVID-19 – Saturday August 7th, 2021

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh announced that NLCB operations will resume this Monday, August 9th, 2021. Operators must ensure that people are masked, and social distancing is observed at the outlets. The entire retail sector will reopen on Monday, August 16th, 2021. Minister Deyalsingh urged stakeholders in this sector (sales clerks, delivery workers, cleaners, etc.) to get vaccinated. He noted a “disturbing” global trend where workers at the shop floor/customer care level chose not to get vaccinated even though they interacted the most with customers. He also noted that managers and supervisors in the retail sector were mostly vaccinated. Casinos and beaches remain closed at this time. The rollout of the 82,000-plus doses of AstraZeneca vaccines received from Canada begins on Monday. Minister Deyalsingh confirmed that 31,330 doses will expire at the end of August, and 50,700 will expire at the end of October. The following is the breakdown of allocation of the AstraZeneca vaccines at the various vaccination sites: The Paddock - 3,000 NAPA - 3,000 UTT (NCRHA) - 5,000 Tacarigua Racquet Centre: 4,000 Sangre Grande Civic Centre - 2,000 Mayaro Regional Sporting Complex - 1,000 SAPA - 10,000 Divali Nagar - 5,000 Ato Boldon Stadium - 4,000 Tobago - 4,000 (rollout next Tuesday or Wednesday) Minister Deyalsingh made a plea for people to get vaccinated. He said people should not listen to conspiracy theories but should do their own research on COVID-19 and vaccinations. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Roshan Parasram stated that health officials are keeping a close watch on Counties Caroni, Victoria, St. George East, and Tobago where COVID-19 cases are high. Dr. Parasram said the seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 cases is now 183.