HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has reminded the public that the covid19 pandemic is not over.
He was speaking at the Health Ministry's virtual press conference on Wednesday.
A journalist pointed out that some healthcare professionals and world leaders have started signalling that the end of the pandemic may be near, and asked if he felt the same way.
Deyalsingh said he does not base such decisions solely on what people from other countries are saying.
"The pandemic is not over, in my view, in the TT context."
He explained that in determining if a pandemic is over, the WHO creates an 18-member committee and a conclusion is reached after discussions.
"But a pandemic doesn't really have a defined end date.
"Because what is going to happen with covid19 (is), it is most likely – like influenza, like swine flu – it is going to become endemic.
"So it may not necessarily be over where you have no covid anywhere in the world or in Trinidad and Tobago.
"It is going to become part of our public health landscape and the same way we have to manage influenza by vaccinating, by practising cough etiquette...this is how we're going to have to deal with covid in the future."
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