Ministry Of Health Virtual Media Conference - Friday April 3rd 2020

KEY POINTS FROM THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH'S VIRTUAL MEDIA CONFERENCE: - The Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh confirms the world has marked a grave and tragic milestone at at 10am today with 1,040,499 Positive cases of COVID-19 and 55,180 deaths recorded. He also confirmed a 6th death in Trinidad as a result of COVID-19. He said there are no deaths recorded in Tobago as a result of COVID-19. - Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh: COVID-19 worse than World War I, World War II and 9/11 put together. - Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh: CARPHA has not certified private labs to do testing for COVID-19. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Roshan Parasram agreed, noting that two “Positive” cases were referred to CARPHA from private labs but when CARPHA tested those two samples, they turned out to be Negative. - Health Minister urges people to stay at home. “The virus determines the timeline. The virus determines the schedule. The virus determines the timetable. Not man, not the CMO, not the Minister of Health. The virus.” - Chief Medical Officer Dr. Roshan Parasram says face masks are still recommended for health workers, especially those in contact with COVID-19 patients. - Chief Medical Officer Dr. Roshan Parasram confirms 90 persons are still hospitalised for COVID-19. SCARBOROUGH HOSPITAL: 1 CAURA HEALTH FACILITY: 9 (ambulatory and Mild symptoms) COUVA HOSPITAL: 80 (2 Intensive Care Unit, 13 High Dependency Unit, and 65 ambulatory and without symptoms). Some of the 65 patients at Couva Hospital who are ambulatory and with Mild symptoms will be moved to another facility today. - Chief Medical Officer Dr. Roshan Parasram: Of the 90 COVID-19 cases in T&T, a large number came from the 20,000 Returning Nationals. - CMO Dr. Parasram is confident there were no Positive COVID-19 cases in T&T during Carnival time. He said if there was transmission during the Carnival Season, there would be tens of thousands of cases in T&T at this time. - Minister of National Security Stuart Young urges citizens to stay home, stay safe, stay alive. He said unfortunately people are not staying at home. - Minister Young said the Police 555 hotline has been inundated with reports of people gathering without good reason and some are also sneaking into bars. He said police officers have been deployed to deal with those matters but it is putting a strain on resources. - National Security Minister: The limit on the gathering of five does not apply to essential businesses and services such as banks, pharmacies, and supermarkets. He reminded that beaches, rivers, streams or springs are closed, unless persons are there for an essential service, eg. WASA employees testing the water. Religious services at rivers, streams and beaches are prohibited. - Only essential workers are allowed to be at work. Groceries, pharmacies and markets must ensure social distancing at their places of business by placing markers for their customers to stay a safe distance away from each other. - Immigration Division will be closed to the public for the renewal of Passports next week. A new system for Passport Renewals (alphabetised) will be utilised when the Division reopens.